December 20, WMS Medigram
The Wisconsin Medical Society has urged the state’s Medical Examining Board (MEB) to be flexible when approving courses related to opioid prescribing so that more physicians can receive useful education befitting their particular specialties. The input was given at a public hearing before the MEB on a new administrative rule related to an extension of the opioid prescribing continuing medical education (CME) course requirement until November 2021.
Current rules require physicians holding a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration number to complete two of the 30 required hours of CME per biennium in an MEB-approved course related to the state’s opioid prescribing guidelines. The current requirement expires in November 2019. The MEB is extending the requirement for another CME reporting biennium while broadening the subject matter scope to “an educational course or program related to opioid prescribing.”
The Society was the only organization to testify before the MEB on the rule proposal.
Flexibility in the types of courses that can gain MEB approval would make the requirement more relevant to certain physicians who, while not being active opioid prescribers, often take care of patients dealing with the aftermath of opioid addiction or abuse. The Society also suggested that the Board could incentivize physicians taking coursework in Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) by making those courses eligible to satisfy the requirement should they be submitted for CME approval. The MEB welcomed the comments and indicated that such flexibility would be useful as Wisconsin continues to grapple with this issue.
The MEB unanimously approved the rule proposal, which now moves on to standard Governor’s office and legislative review.
Each of the webinars available in the Society’s opioid prescribing series has been approved by the MEB for fulfilling the 2018-2019 CME requirement, including two 2-hour webinars presented by Michael McNett, MD. The other programs vary in length and may be combined to satisfy the mandate. Click here to learn more.
