In The News

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Health Administration announced final integration with the state’s Ohio Automated Rx Reporting System (OARRS). The reporting system provides Ohio doctors access to patient prescription history, new VA participation provides a fuller picture of that history for Ohio patients.


“This has been a problem I’ve addressed since my first months in office in 2013. Full integration into this system is an important piece in Ohio’s successful battle against prescription drug abuse,” U.S. Rep. Brad Wenstrup, a doctor and a veteran, said.


Wenstrup said local prosecutors initially highlighted their concerns to him about the system disconnect as early as February 2013. Wenstrup said, while Congress authorized the VA to participate in the state reporting system in 2011, the department had failed to meaningfully participate with Ohio’s system, established in 2006. After identifying the problem, Wenstrup’s office worked with the VA to ensure interoperability in a timely manner.


“We talked to the VA often over the last two years, making sure this concern from Ohioans didn’t fall through the bureaucratic cracks. Through briefings and updates, I am glad our persistence helped see VA participation to completion,” Wenstrup said. “As a doctor, I know the importance of preventing over-prescribing and ‘doctor shopping’ for drugs, and we owe that protection to our veterans and doctors.”


Meanwhile, a new report details the success of the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) first-ever outpatient medication formulary, as well as future steps BWC will take to protect injured workers from deadly drug regimens. Injured workers were prescribed 15.7 million fewer opiate doses in 2014 than in 2010, representing a 37 percent decrease in the number of injured workers receiving opiates. BWC implemented the closed formulary in 2011 to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of treatment, limit inappropriate uses of medications and lower prescription costs.


“Our goal is to ensure injured workers in Ohio are receiving effective, clinically grounded treatments that help them heal while protecting their well-being so they can regain their footing and return to work whenever possible,” BWC Administrator and CEO Steve Buehrer said. “Prescription medications should assist in recovery following a workplace injury, and we’ve put safeguards in place because no one should suffer from addiction or an unintentional overdose while trying to get back on their feet.”


The report was delivered by John Hanna, BWC’s pharmacy program director, during the fourth annual National RX Drug Abuse Summit in Atlanta, Georgia. Hanna provided the national audience an overview of the BWC formulary, and discussed the impact it’s had on drug and opiate use by injured workers since it went into effect in September 2011.