Update/Support on Hydrocodone

Please see the following communication from Janet Ross, AANP Georgia Rep., about how we might best effect change through the legislature to add hydrocodone to the list of medications NPs are authorized to prescribe: 

AANP and I have been communicating on efforts that we can do to help our patients.  While the
AANP national office has been providing guidance to us about how other states
have and are responding to this issue, I have been fortunate to meet with a few
legislators and others about how this change impacts us and our patients here
in Georgia.

Here's what I've learned, and how you can help now.

1.  Start keeping track of how many patients this is impacting in your
practice, and how this change is effecting patient care.  Please send me,
AANP or your local GA NP association your numbers and stories so that we can
share these with legislators.

2.  Make a plan to meet with your elected Georgia state Representative and
Senator after the election to personally share how this change is impacting
patients.  Consider rehearsing your message now.  One of our local
legislators encourages being polite and educational, and not aggressive as the
key here.  We'll want to focus on sharing what we could prescribe in
September, and that we'd like to see patient access restored to where it was
earlier this year.

Right now candidates and legislators are focusing on the election and what
committees they will be on after the election.  This gives us time to
organize and plan a coordinated response.

Georgia is one of only a handful of states where patients of NPs lost their
access with this recent DEA change.  Several of these state are
considering updates to state law that would add hydrocodone to the list of
medications that NPs (PA's, optometrists and other health professional) are
authorized to prescribe as a response to the DEA change.  As the NP
community in Georgia continues to evaluate this issue and the political will of
our legislators to address this and other important patient care issues, I ask
that you commit to staying positive, professional and proactive for our
patients.  Right now this change is a key issue to address in our
state.  We need to work together to get it resolved.

I look forward to working with everyone on this project.

Janet Ross

AANP GA Rep.