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Arizona governor approves opioid bill to prevent overprescribing

Posted On: Apr. 2, 2018 2:12 PM CST

Arizona governor approves opioid bill to prevent overprescribing

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey on Thursday approved legislation that is designed to prevent the overprescription of opioids to injured workers in the state.

S.B. 1111 limits the initial prescription for any opioid medication for an employee except in surgical cases and allows the Industrial Commission to review data on medication dispensing, according to the bill’s latest text.

According to the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, the bill “will protect injured workers from being over prescribed addictive opioids and help control escalating medical costs in the workers compensation system.”

“Opioid abuse is a serious problem in Arizona and it is having a significant impact on the state’s workers compensation system, Armand Feliciano, Sacramento, California-based vice president of state government relations for PCI, said in a statement. “We applaud Gov. Ducey’s swift action to curb physician dispensing while also providing new tools to assess opioid use. One of the goals is to prevent harmful addictions, as the overprescribing of opioids and other drugs can hamper an injured employee’s ability fully recover and quickly return to work.”

The law goes into effect in 90 days, PCI said in the statement.