On January 26th, 2022 , the Arizona State Senate Committee on Health and Human Services passed SB1162 unanimously. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Nancy Barto, increases flexibility for pain patients and the physicians caring for them.
The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons says it is “increasingly difficult and sometimes impossible for pain patients to obtain appropriate care. Doctors are not only limited in available treatments, but often intimidated away from offering any care for these challenging conditions. In addition, patients unfortunately may resort to use of dangerous illicit drugs when safer options are blocked. Nothing could be more counterproductive when the goal is to stop the epidemic of overdoses, largely driven by illegal, unsafe street drugs.”
Currently, health professionals in Arizona may not issue opioid prescriptions exceeding 90 morphine milligram equivalents (MME) per day to patients outside of a health care institution, except those patients: 1) with an active oncology diagnosis; 2) with a traumatic injury, not including a surgical procedure; 3) receiving hospice care; 4) receiving end-of-life care; 5) receiving palliative care; 6) receiving skilled nursing facility care; 7) receiving treatment for burns; 8) receiving medication-assisted treatment for a substance use disorder; or 9) who are hospitalized (A.R.S. § 32-3248.01).
SB 1162 expands the list of exemptions from the 90 MME per day limit on opioid prescriptions to include patients:
a) experiencing intractable or chronic intractable pain; or
b) receiving opioid treatment for perioperative surgical pain.
The bill defines chronic intractable pain as pain that:
a) is excruciating, constant, incurable and of such severity that it dominates virtually every conscious moment;
b) produces mental and physical debilitation; and
c) may produce a desire to commit suicide for the sole purpose of stopping the pain.