While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration considers a proposal to mandate safety training courses for doctors who prescribe opioid painkillers, physician groups are continuing to voice their opposition to such a move, according to a report by Pennsylvania-based WJAC.
Both the American Medical Association (AMA) and the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) are opposed to mandatory training, the report said.
Following two days of hearings, the FDA's Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committee agreed last week to recommend that physicians complete training in order to prescribe opioid painkillers. The FDA does not have to follow that recommendation, but since 2012 when it rejected a similar recommendation and opted to make training voluntary, the country has seen a growing opioid crisis of overdose deaths and addiction. However, a move to make training mandatory would also require congressional action, the report said.
The AMA continues to oppose mandatory training, which its chair-elect Patrice Harris, M.D., called "a one-size-fits-all response." The AAFP says more training requirements will put an additional burden on overworked physicians or leave doctors unable to prescribe painkillers to patients who need them.
There aren't enough pain management centers to treat patients if their family doctors cannot prescribe those medications, said AAFP chairman Robert Wergin, M.D., who practices in a rural area. Wergin recommends doctors create contracts with their pain patients to help ensure that they use opioid painkillers responsibly.
Last week, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, M.D. called for more robust training for doctors who prescribe opioids.
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