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"EXCEL" Over the last few years, the Vermont Medical Society, the Hospice and Palliative Care Council of Vermont, and the Vermont Ethics Network have collaborated to improve palliative care through the ExCEL coalition. The ExCEL committee has worked diligently, albeit with limited resources, to educate health care professionals statewide about the importance and availability of good pain management options. Insert: Both the Vermont Board… Now, Vermont practitioners are receiving conflicting messages about pain management. While both local and national organizations are promoting the proper use of opioids for treating pain, the message from the Governor and popular press is that they should be used only for acute pain or intractable pain near the end of life. Insert: VMS is seriously concerned… The VMS policy statement on assisted suicide, adopted in 1997, noted that “Pain medications are still given infrequently and in small doses…Our physicians actively endorse comprehensive palliative care which includes the use of modern medicine's powerful modalities for symptom control.” VMS recognizes that opioid analgesics present a well-documented potential for abuse and diversion. Our members wish to support the state in its recent attempts to curb OxyContin diversion. However, the rapid implementation of the OxyContin prior authorization requirement presented a number of specific, serious challenges for the physician community. Physicians, pharmacists and patients were not made adequately aware of the new requirement in advance of its imposition.
Transition letter | Steering Committee | Policy: Position on Oxycontin, VMS Statement on Physician-Assisted Suicide | Funding | Minutes | Newsletters| Opportunity Awards | Rallying Points Application | Regional Reports | Articles | Links | 2006 Meeting Dates |
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Email: mail@vpqhc.org
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Vermont
Program for Quality in Health Care, Inc. |
