BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Hoping to prevent fatal overdoses, a House committee passed a bill to make it harder for injured Louisiana workers to access highly-addictive opioid drugs.
Lawmakers voted 8-5 Thursday to have prescribers consult a widely-used formulary before writing a prescription for patients with workers’ compensation insurance. Doctors would need preauthorization to prescribe drugs the formulary labels “non-preferred drugs,” including many opioids.
The full House next will consider the measure.
Louisiana has the sixth-highest opioid prescription rate in the nation.
Rep. Kirk Talbot, the Republican bill sponsor, says Texas adopted a similar system in 2011 and has seen a significant decrease in opioid prescriptions.
Opponents say the measure’s real aim is to save insurance companies money by making it difficult for injured workers to get needed drugs.
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House Bill 16: www.legis.la.gov
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