Skyler Health Can Protect Doctors Who Prescribe Opioids from Devastating Liabilities
Patient well-being is every doctor’s first priority. But liability is a perennial concern underlying the practice of medicine, and its consequences can be devastating. Prescribers who work with patients on pain management have faced particular scrutiny in the wake of the opioid epidemic.
While the CDC has issued updated regulations, and OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma is facing a torrent of litigation, individual doctors have increasingly been held liable for patient misuse and overdose. Lucid Lane offers prescribers built-in strategies for maintaining open communication with patients, documenting abuse-prevention measures, flagging potentially dangerous drug interactions, and tapering patients to head off addiction.
Operating independently, pain management prescribers may lack the bandwidth and infrastructure to reduce liability and maintain constant interface with patients. The fallout from patient overdose and death can be irrevocable for prescribing doctors, from suspension or loss of one’s medical license to serious jail time. In the best case scenario, even damage to a doctor’s reputation among patients and colleagues can spell the end of a career.
A worst-case scenario for prescribing doctors
We recently heard a real-world anecdote from one doctor that indicates how severe opioids liability to prescribers can get. This doctor’s patient died in a car accident. Though the cause of the collision was unknown, the deceased patient had opioids in his system prescribed by his provider. The local district attorney’s office, like many around the country, was under extreme pressure to crack down on the opioid epidemic. In fact, this district’s office had received a federal grant specifically to fund drug investigations.
Driven by these resources, and motivated to cast bad actors, prosecutors initiated an investigation into the doctor’s practice and records.
The late patient’s full combination of prescriptions immediately raised red flags. In addition to high doses of opioids, the patient had also been prescribed benzodiazepines. Each patient’s needs are different, but such drug combinations are potentially dangerous and warrant additional scrutiny. Lucid Lane counsels prescribers on how to adjust regimens in such a way that treats and protects patients while minimizing likelihood for negative outcomes.
Though the doctor in this case was cleared by the medical board, and narrowly avoided successful prosecution and jail time, he was pressured by regulators into closing his practice, his future career all but doomed.
The best strategies for liability mitigation
Working with patients on pain management, including prescribing opioids, makes doctors especially vulnerable to liabilities. There are a number of strategies to ensure patients receive the best possible care while reducing doctor liability for negative outcomes. Many providers don’t have sufficient bandwidth to maximize such protections. Prescribing through Lucid Lane takes much of the onus off individual providers, so they can remain focused on serving patients.
While direct doctor-patient interactions are limited to discrete appointments, Skyler Health maintains open lines of communication with patients in an ongoing, comprehensive approach to treatment. Patients can utilize Lucid Lane resources, including 24/7 crisis support, individual and group therapy, and mind-body treatments proven to reduce opioid dependency for pain management.
Staying connected with patients between visits is both essential for optimal care and a crucial means of monitoring progress and signs of potential dependency or addiction. Lucid Lane offers user-directed health checks that provide a fuller picture of patient needs and response to treatment. Counselors also monitor patients’ opioid use, and can advise on tapering strategies when needed.
Doctors who see pain patients can issue thousands of prescriptions for controlled substances in a short period, increasing the potential for scrutiny from regulators. That volume of patient care also means many providers may not be equipped to manage necessary tapering. Lucid Lane offers comprehensive, individualized tapering services, and issues weekly reports to prescribing doctors on patient progress. This post Under The Hood At Skyler Health: Using the Risk Stratification Dashboard explains how this feature works for prescribing MDs.
Documentation is essential to liability reduction. Progress reports from Lucid Lane not only keep providers up to date on patient progress, they offer a significant line of protection from liability. More robust records, especially as it pertains to potential addiction management and tapering services, details provider efforts in writing rather than relying on their word alone. Reports from a third party such as Lucid Lane offer the strongest possible documentation.
The more informed eyes providers have on a patient, from user-led health checks to specialized counselors and tapering specialists, the better the potential outcome for everyone. Patients get the care they need, including pain management and addiction prevention and treatment, while prescribers reduce the likelihood of liability in the unfortunate case of negative outcomes.
Visit us at Skyler Health to learn more about how we empower people to prevent and stop medication and substance dependence with professional, licensed, and vetted counselors that you can trust.
