New CME Platform Fulfills FDA REMS Blueprint for Safe Opioid Prescribing
Littleton, CO (PRWEB) July 11, 2013 -- Global Education Group announces the launch of four new activities in the ongoing REMEDIES, Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies: An Employer-Driven CME Initiative for Efficacy and Safety continuing medical education (CME) initiative.
Available at http://www.opioidcme.com, the comprehensive curriculum educates health care providers on evidence-based, risk-directed strategies for optimizing pain management and improving patient outcomes with the use of opioid therapies. REMEDIES features a 2-part Core Curriculum that is certified for 2.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ and fulfills the requirements of the FDA’s Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) Blueprint for Prescriber Education for Extended-Release /Long-Acting (ER/LA) Opioids.
Prescription opioid abuse is a serious epidemic in the United States, implicated in 14,800 deaths in 2008 (1) and 343,000 emergency department visits in 2009.(2) More recent estimates find that 35 million Americans aged 12 and older used prescription opioids for nonmedical purposes in 2010.(3) These and other disquieting trends prompted the FDA to issue a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy that focused heavily on prescriber education in six key areas:
• Assessing patients for treatment with ER/LA opioids;
• Initiating therapy, modifying dosing, and discontinuing use of ER/LA opioids;
• Managing therapy;
• Counseling patients and caregivers about safe use;
• General drug information; and
• Specific drug information.
This opioid CME initiative provides education on all of these areas and more. Upon completion of the curriculum, participants will be better prepared to:
1. Perform structured assessments of patients who are candidates for opioid therapy, including review and documentation of treatment risks and benefits;
2. Initiate and adjust safe and effective opioid therapy by individualizing the selection of agent, formulation, and dose based on ongoing reassessment;
3. Demonstrate an understanding of opioid rotation, including incomplete cross-tolerance;
4. Recognize and respond appropriately to physical dependence, chemical coping, substance dependence, pseudoaddiction, and addiction; and
5. Counsel patients and caregivers about the safe use and disposal of opioid analgesics, including general and product-specific information concerning ER/LA products.
REMEDIES is co-chaired by nationally recognized thought leaders in pain management: Charles E. Argoff, MD, Professor of Neurology at Albany Medical College, Director of the Comprehensive Pain Management Center at Albany Medical Center in New York; and Bill H. McCarberg, MD, founder of the Chronic Pain Management Program at Kaiser Permanente, Adjunct Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine in California.
“One of the goals in mitigating the risks associated with managing people on opioids and trying to maximize benefit and minimize harm is realizing what an active role clinicians have,” Dr. Argoff notes. “We can develop the skills to manage people on a long-term basis. The REMEDIES coalition is a major part of that because it includes faculty experts from a wide variety of disciplines and backgrounds, thus allowing the participant to gain a broad view of safe opioid prescribing.”
REMEDIES also includes virtual patient cases, a wide-ranging Resource Center to assist medical professionals and patients in locating valuable information about ER/LA opioids, a series of screenings at which patients can learn more about pain and pain medications, and a cutting-edge Performance Improvement opportunity, providing clinicians with the opportunity to earn up to 20 additional AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™.
Along with joint sponsor Applied Clinical Education, the REMEDIES coalition includes the American Society of Pain Educators and the National Association of Managed Care Physicians. The initiative initially launched in November 2012 with a series of live meetings in Boston, Massachusetts; Fort Lauderdale, Florida; and Houston, Texas. Additional activities within the REMEDIES curriculum are scheduled for release throughout the summer.
REMEDIES is supported by an educational grant from Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals.
For more information and to register, please visit http://www.opioidcme.com.
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About Global Education Group
Global Education Group harnesses the power of partnership, performance, and continuous improvement in joint sponsorship, outcomes measurement, and effective educational program management. Global’s team of clinical, adult learning, compliance, meeting planning, and project management experts provides timely, high-quality services to its partners. Global’s mission is to manage, design, implement, and measure the health care effect of continuing education interventions that promote clinical competence and performance improvement. Based on needs assessments that identify gaps in knowledge between existing practices and best practices, Global’s content focuses on relevant, evidence-based practices for primary care and specialty audiences.
About Applied Clinical Education
Applied Clinical Education (ACE) is dedicated to providing education that strengthens medical knowledge and enhances the clinical care provided to patients by health care professionals, with the ultimate goal of improving patient care and public health. In doing so, ACE contributes to physicians’ commitment to improving their professional growth and providing excellent health care to patients. ACE develops educational initiatives designed to meet the needs of practicing clinicians based on identified and verifiable gaps within a target audience. Individual activities focus on maintaining, developing, or increasing the knowledge, skills, and professional performance of clinicians to advance care.
About the American Society of Pain Educators
The American Society of Pain Educators (ASPE) is a nonprofit professional organization dedicated to improving pain management through the education and training of health care professionals to become Certified Pain Educators. As the only organization focusing on pain educator training, the ASPE teaches health care professionals to serve as resources to educate their clinical peers, as well as patients, families, and caregivers, on ways to relieve pain by the safest means possible.
About the National Association of Managed Care Professionals
The National Association of Managed Care Physicians (NAMCP) is dedicated to improving patient outcomes by working with medical directors, practicing physicians, and other health care professionals through education, research, and communication. Founded in 1991 to serve the interests and needs of physicians working in any form of managed health care, the NAMCP is a nonprofit association run by physicians for physicians. Because physicians affect 85% of the expense side in health care, they should take a proactive role in developing the best delivery systems for patients in managed health care, thereby increasing quality, reducing costs, and improving practice performance and clinical outcomes.
REFERENCES
1. Warner M, Chen LH, Makuc DM, Anderson RN, Miniño AM. Drug Poisoning Deaths in the United States, 1980-2008. NCHS Data Brief No 81. Hyattsville, MD: US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics; December 2011. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db81.pdf. Accessed March 30, 2012.
2. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Drug Abuse Warning Network, 2009: National Estimates of Drug-Related Emergency Department Visits, Table 19. Rockville, MD: US Department of Health and Human Services; 2011. http://www.samhsa.gov/data/2k11/DAWN/2k9DAWNED/HTML/DAWN2k9ED.htm#Tab19. Accessed March 30, 2012.
3. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Results from the 2010 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: Detailed Table, Table 7.1.a. Rockville, MD: US Department of Health and Human Services; 2011 http://www.samhsa.gov/data/NSDUH/2k10NSDUH/tabs/Sect7peTabs1to45.htm#Tab7.1A. Accessed April 10, 2013.
Marilyn Holman, Audience Generation, 512-708-4678, [email protected]
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