KMA has signed on to a letter to Congressional leadership from the American Medical Association (AMA) regarding inclusion of support for physician practices in any economic stimulus package. The letter, which can be viewed here, also calls for Congress take all possible actions to ensure that every physician and health care worker has access to critically needed PPE. It also includes signatures from the American Academy of Family Physicians, American College of Physicians, American College of Surgeons, and Medical Group Management Association.
Prescribing Controlled Substances
The Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure (KBML) reminded licensees who are prescribing controlled medications (whether Schedule IIs, IIIs, IVs or Vs) of KRS 311.597(4), which calls upon licensees to conform with acceptable and prevailing medical practices and the provisions of 201 KAR 9:260 Section 2(2), which states:
If a physician is unable to conform to professional standards for prescribing or dispensing controlled substances due to circumstances beyond the physician’s control, or the physician makes a professional determination that it is not appropriate to comply with a specific standard, based upon the individual facts applicable to a specific patient’s diagnosis and treatment, the physician shall document those circumstances in the patient’s record and only prescribe or dispense a controlled substance to the patient if the patient record appropriately justifies the prescribing or dispensing of a controlled substance under the circumstances.
The notice encourages physicians to responsibly exercise their best clinical judgment on a case-by-case and patient-by patient basis. The full advisory is available here.
Elective Procedures Mandate
The Cabinet for Health and Family Services issued revised directives to assist in the exercise of judgement regarding elective procedures. This differs from the directive issued last week. The new directive is available here.
Medical Students Volunteer for COVID-19 Relief
In this afternoon’s address, Gov. Beshear and Public Health Commissioner Steven Stack, M.D. praised the more than 263 medical students who had signed up to volunteer their services as part of the COVID-19 response efforts. Dr. Stack’s letter to medical students last week was distributed by KMA and is available here.
For the latest COVID-19 developments and resources, please visit kyma.org/covid19 or follow KMA on Twitter, @KYMedAssoc. Physicians are also encouraged to sign up for text alerts by texting “KMA” to 50457.
