Abstract
Healthcare providers in Maine have about six months to rethink their approach to pain treatment before a new state law limiting opioid dosages and the duration of therapy takes effect. The law, which goes into effect on January 1, 2017, restricts opioid prescriptions to a dosage of no more than 100 morphine milligram equivalents (MME) per day of any opioid or combination of opioid-containing medications. In addition, patients with chronic pain, as defined in the statute, may be prescribed no more than a 30-day supply of an opioid medication. And patients with acute pain will be limited to no more than a 7-day supply of an opioid. The law includes exceptions for inpatient use, cancer-related opioid therapy, palliative or end-of-life pain treatment, and medication-assisted treatment of substance abuse disorder. Complying with the law, said Noah Nesin, vice president of medical affairs for Penobscot Community Health Care (PCHC) in Bangor, “is going to take everybody working together, and it’s going to take a lot of explaining to the public and to individual patients.”
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