Important Opioid Information for Medicare Members

Important Information Regarding Medicare & Opioids

CMS Is Now Limiting Opioid Prescriptions to 7 Day Quantities & More Starting effective 2019, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services has implemented new changes in regards to opioid prescriptions. The biggest changes include - Limiting prescriptions to no higher than 90 morphine milligram equivalents per day Flagging patients as high-risk if taking benzodiazepines + opioids Adopting a 7-day limit on initial fills of opioids to treat acute conditions These changes are exempt for palliative care, hospice, cancer, and long term pain management This change is in an effort to help combat the opioid epidemic, however, many patients with chronic pain are now worried they will not be receiving the care they need. If you are being denied your medication, we recommend you coordinate with both your pharmacist and doctor/specialist. The pharmacist can then indicate that the prescriber was consulted so the prescription claim can pay. For more detailed information, please read report of these new regulations on CMS.gov below - https://www.cms.gov/Outreach-and-Education/Medicare-Learning-Network-MLN/MLNMattersArticles/Downloads/SE18016.pdf  Questions?