Winter 2013 CSHRM E-News Update Message from the President

1. Winter 2013 CSHRM E-News Update Message from the President Happy New Year from CSHRM! I hope everyone had a nice, relaxing holiday season. Now, it’s back to work! Your CSHRM Board is busy planning for our upcoming annual conference March 6-9, 2013 in Napa. Please read on to hear about our exciting speaker line up and details about how to register. We’ve got an exciting program for you so please make plans to attend. The CSHRM Board also voted to upgrade our web services which would allow us to better manage chapter and member business. We plan to make this migration to the new vendor after the March conference so please be on the lookout for an email from info@cshrmca.org which will have important information on how to access the members only section of the website. With this new service, you will be able to get confirmations and invoices for webinars and conference registrations. The overall look and feel of the website will change as well. Voting has started for the 2013 Board of Directors and will continue until March 4, 2013. A separate email has been sent to 2013 members with voting instructions. The new Board of Directors and President Elect will be announced at the March annual conference. 2013 Annual Conference at the Meritage in Napa We hope you have heard that CSHRM’s annual conference is returning to Napa Valley this year.  The Conference will be held at the beautiful (and recently remodeled) Meritage Resort and Spa (http://www.themeritageresort.com) on March 6 – 8, 2013. Our 3rd Annual Golf Tournament will be held on Tuesday March 5, 2013 at the Chardonnay Golf Club http://chardonnaygolfclub.com. If you have not already done so, please put these dates onto your calendar.  We hope that you all can attend. Further information regarding the conference and the speakers can be found at www.cshrmca.org. We are enclosing a Registration Form with this e-mail.  Please complete this Form and return it to CSHRM as indicated to reserve your spot for this Conference.  Special Room Rates have been blocked for those attending the Conference at the Meritage. Please make your reservations by February 13 to guarantee the room rate. After that date, reservations will be made at the room rate if space is available. Education Article: We are pleased to provide you with an educational article regarding risk management and drug seeking patients. The author, Matson Sewell, will be presenting detailed, practical risk management strategies in both hospital and outpatient settings in a session titled: Addressing Challenges of Drug-Seeking Patients at the 2013 Annual California Society for Healthcare Risk Management Conference March 6-8 in Napa. The Risk Management Challenges Posed by Drug-Seeking Patients Matson Sewell, MS, MPH, CPHRM Anyone working in healthcare is already aware of the disruption and stress that drug-seeking patients create in a care setting. Many of us have noted that these incidences are increasing in frequency and severity. Following two decades of escalating prescription of controlled medications, prescription drug abuse is now identified as America’s fastest-growing and most lethal drug problem. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has now classified prescription drug abuse as an epidemic in the United States. The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) found that in 2009, nearly one-third of people aged 12 and over who used drugs for the first time, began by using a prescription drug non-medically. Although a number of classes of prescribed drugs are being abused, opioid pain relievers have become the focus of a Federal action plan because of their stunning increase in use, abuse, and incidence of overdose. In 2011, The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) announced that it is now, driven by survey, usage, emergency visits and mortality data evidence, directing its attention to the diversion of prescribed medications—particularly opioids. Over 70 percent of people who abused prescription pain relievers got them from friends or family, with only 5 percent obtaining them from a drug dealer or the Internet. From 1997 to 2007, U.S. drug distribution through the pharmaceutical supply chain represented an increased opioid use of over 600 percent. Overdoses due to prescription pain-killers are responsible for more opiate deaths than heroin and cocaine combined. The CDC has also found that prescription drug overdoses are now killing more citizens than motor vehicle accidents, with over half due to abuse of prescription pain killers. The ONDCP’s Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention Plan* contains several components of particular interest to Risk Managers including: 1. Education – This section of the plan recommends requiring practitioners requesting DEA registration for prescribing controlled substances to be trained on responsible opioid prescribing, as well as increasing CME requirements specifically addressing proper evaluation of pain and safe prescribing practices in all care settings including emergency departments. 2. Tracking and Monitoring – This section of the plan focuses on enhancing the effectiveness and use of each state’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP). 3. Proper Medication Disposal – The DEA is charged with finalizing medication disposal regulations. In the meantime, the ONDCP will continue to increase public awareness about the need for safe and effective drug return and disposal processes to prevent the diversion at the core of the current epidemic. 4. Enforcement – Although the primary targets for enforcement are “pill mills,” the patient evaluation and prescribing practices for all physicians prescribing controlled substances are included under: – Instruction to the Drug Enforcement Agency and the Department of Justice for a) aggressive enforcement against pain clinics and prescribers who are not prescribing within the usual course of practice and not for legitimate medical purposes b) expanding the use of PDMP data to identify criminal prescribers and clinics by the volume of selected drugs prescribed – A new focus by the ONDCCP to identify and seek to remove administrative and regulatory barriers to investigations of prescribers. *http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/ondcp/policy-and-research/rx_abuse_plan.pdf Upcoming Events CSHRM has the following upcoming webinars. Watch for an email to register. February 20, 2013 10-11 AM PST John West, JD, MHA, DFASHRM, CPRHM, AIG Casualty Loss Prevention  “Case Law Update” There will be no webinar in March due to the annual conference. We hope to resume our popular webinars in April 2013 so watch for an email to register. ” Our Education Committee is hard at work planning webinars for the rest of the year. If you have a topic that you feel would make a beneficial webinar, contact Gregg Timmons, Education Chair at Gregg.timmons@chartisinusurace.com