MMS Prescriber Education on Opioids Surpasses 20,000 Courses

WALTHAM — The Mass. Medical Society (MMS) recently provided an update on its prescriber education effort to address the opioid epidemic in the Commonwealth and said that more than 7,000 prescribers had taken more than 20,000 of its continuing-medical-education courses in opioids and pain management.

The society began offering its education courses in opioids and pain management free to all prescribers following the release of its “Opioid Therapy and Physician Communication Guidelines,” which were developed to provide direction to physicians in their practices and to offer evidence of best practices in prescribing and were subsequently adopted by the Mass. Board of Registration in Medicine, which incorporated them into its comprehensive advisory to physicians on prescribing issues and practices.

In May 2015, the society began offering its medical education courses in opioids and pain management free to all prescribers as a way to increase awareness of the epidemic among healthcare professionals and to remove barriers to prescriber education.

The society’s prescriber-education offerings include 18 courses and modules, with such titles as “New Opioid Prescribing Guidelines in Practice,” “Managing Pain Without Overusing Opioids,” “Safe Opioid Prescribing for Chronic Pain,” “The Opioid Epidemic: Policy and Public Health,” and “Alternatives to Opioids.”

MMS President Dr. James Gessner reported that, as of Oct. 7, a total of 20,249 courses have been taken by 7,084 prescribers since the courses were first offered free on May 26 of last year.

“Prescriber education remains one of the critical steps in alleviating the opioid crisis,” Gessner said, “and we are pleased that our organization is making this contribution and are encouraged that it is having an impact.”

Gessner cited three studies released earlier this year that show opioid prescribing rates have declined. The studies were done by athenahealth, Cambridge-based Workers’ Compensation Research Institute, and the state Department of Public Health.

Despite the progress in prescribing, Gessner said treatment for opioid-use disorder is another critical step to change the direction of the epidemic. To assist in this area, he said the society is conducting a Medication Assisted Treatment Summit on Monday, Oct. 31. The event will convene leaders in medicine, public health, policy, industry, and the community to discuss strategies to expand availability and access to evidence-based treatments for opioid addiction, and to identify collaborative strategies to increase positive treatment outcomes.