Get Your Specimens in Order: The Importance of Individualized Test Orders and Timely Test Utilization

The government has ramped up its efforts in 2018 to connect claims of inappropriate opioid prescribing to financial gain, including gain from urine drug testing. While most physicians do not have a financial interest in a clinical laboratory, the government's decision to highlight an opioid prescriber's failure to timely utilize drug test results is significant, and suggests the government is looking at other factors tied to medical decision making. Thus, prescribers should pay attention to licensing board, payer, and professional society guidance on ordering drug tests and how to use drug test results when treatment involves opioid prescribing. Attendees will learn how to identify the core elements of medical necessity and document an individualized testing plan for each patient. This course will cover critical areas of medical record documentation, including the decision to drug test, when and how often; determining which drugs to test and why; and how to coordinate timely review and use of drug test results in connection with the patient's plan of care. Attendees will gain additional insight into these issues through position papers, published late 2017 and early 2018, by the American Academy of Pain Medicine and the American Association for Clinical Chemistry. The overall goal of the course is to assist prescribers in their quest to provide quality pain care to their patients and to document their rationale for drug testing and their treatment decisions.

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Off
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UAN
0530-0000-18-039-L01-P
AANP Rx Hours
0.0

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