DOCTOR SHOPPING BILL PASSES UNANIMOUSLY IN VIRGINIA SENATE WEDNESDAY

Doctor shopping by Virginia residents who try to get multiple prescriptions
out of county or out of state could become more closely monitored if
proposed legislation passes the state legislature.

Senate Bill 1098, sponsored by Sen. William Wampler Jr., R-Bristol, earned
a 38-0 vote in the Virginia Senate Tuesday.

That bill proposes to expand statewide a pilot program first launched in
2002 in Southwest Virginia. The pilot program requires doctors prescribing
opiate-based medicines such as OxyContin to report those prescriptions to a
database.

The bill also expands the reporting sector to out-of-state dispensers and
pharmacists.

The legislation comes down the pike as state health officials have cited a
spike in drug-related deaths in the far southwest sector of Virginia in a
study released earlier this month.

Essentially, the percentage of death rates related to opiate overdoses in
rural counties west of Roanoke is nearly quadruple the rate of those types
of deaths in much larger urban areas such as Fairfax and Richmond.

Wampler said nothing is in place to stop a resident in this region from
going over into Tennessee or North Carolina to get multiple prescriptions
for the drug they could be addicted to.

"This would allow law enforcement to track an ongoing, specific
investigation for those who may be pharmacy or doctor shopping or (those
doctors) who may be over-prescribing," said Wampler.

"We have written this bill tightly to make sure that confidentially is
preserved. I know that is a concern with medical records being involved,
but this is not meant to be intrusive.

"The investigation, which would probably be handled by a division of the
Virginia State Police, would be very specific as well, not a fishing
expedition. This gives them the tools they need to do their job."