If you haven't noticed, the US is experiencing a verifiable epidemic when it comes to drug abuse. A CDC report last year showed that pain reliever abuse has increased 111 % during the last five years.

In addition, a brand new Institute of Medicine report showed that more than 100 million Americans are dealing with chronic pain, at a charge to the country of more than $540 billion dollars a season. Yes, that is not really a typo! Twenty percent of doctor office visits call for a narcotic prescription.

Many doctors, when asked in case they drug test their patients, say "I know the patients of mine, they are not selling it or diverting it." This's a fallacy, as studies show that thirty % of patients divert their medications. What this means is they are often offering it, giving it to someone, or trading it for illicit substances. The culprits include younger individuals who one would suspect completely up to retired people looking to augment the social security of theirs.

Allow me to share five reasons why doctors should drug test the patients of theirs who they're prescribing narcotics.

1. Drug testing offers the clinician with an unbiased test documenting prescription adherence. With the statistics of people diverting their medications in all age groups, testing can certainly help make certain that clients are taking their medicines and also not abusing illicit drugs. Just how betrayed will a pain doctor believe if his patient is unfavorable for any medications prescribed and get Started; www.bothell-reporter.Com, beneficial for cocaine and heroin? It occurs more than you'd think!

2. As states be regulated with narcotic prescriptions (e.g. Washington state), drug tests your people are going to become the standard of care. Multiple health boards now recommend it for chronic narcotic people. With its low cost of doing the testing, instituting it now is a great pre emptive maneuver for compliance.

3. Protects your practice from legal issues. In case a patient markets the drugs they are being recommended to a person who becomes impaired while driving and hurts someone, the trail of narcotic may lead directlyto the prescribing doctor. In case a screening mechanism has been available to detect prescription compliance, it will serve as an authorized deterrent to anyone who will try to convey that the prescribing doctor wasn't correctly keeping track of the patient.

4. Places the practice on a level playing field. Testing on a random schedule is a very popular pain relief screening strategy with urine cups. But, it is not random if merely the 18 15 year old crowd is selected. A "level playing field" for tests would consist of random testing for all age groups getting persistent pain medicines.