PEIA TO REQUIRE PRIOR AUTHORIZATION FOR OXYCODONE

CHARLESTON (AP) - Deaths among state workers blamed on oxycodone have
prompted the Public Employees Insurance Agency to require prior
authorization for the powerful pain drug. As of Friday, doctors for PEIA
members must call a toll-free notification line before pharmacists will
honor prescriptions for the drug OxyContin.

"It's a good drug for good indications. We just want to get a tighter
control over uses of it," said Felice Joseph, PEIA's pharmacy benefits
administrator. "We don't want to deny this to members with terminal illness
and chronic pain."

Abuse of the addictive painkiller has made national headlines. Joseph said
hints of misuse have cropped up closer to home.

"We've had death certificates for members come in with oxycodone, the
generic name for OxyContin, listed as the cause of death," she said.

At least 350 of the more than 180,000 people covered by PEIA now have
prescriptions for the drug.

The agency has written letters, notified pain management specialists and
alerted all members to the change in its newsletter, she said.

"We have encouraged members to get prior authorization now," she said.
"They don't have to wait until Nov. 1."

Joseph noted that PEIA, which covers public employees and their families,
already requires prior authorization for other drugs.

"This drug is just added to that list," she said.