TAMPA, FLA. (Feb. 25, 2013) — What do Texas and Washington State have in common? Both have seen excellent results from proactive regulatory/legislative efforts to stem the tide of opioid overuse and abuse in their workers’ compensation systems.

Joseph Paduda, president of CompPharma, LLC, will moderate “The Tale of Two States,” at the National Prescription Drug Abuse Summit at the Omni Orlando Resort at Champion’s Gate on April 3, starting at 3 p.m.

Amy Lee, Special Deputy Commissioner for Policy and Research at the Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation, will discuss the Texas Closed Formulary, which requires physicians to obtain pre-authorization before prescribing opioids and certain other drugs. The formulary has dramatically reduced the number of prescriptions for opioids.

Gary M. Franklin, MD, MPH with the University of Washington’s Department of Environmental and Occupational Epidemiology and Health Outcomes Programs, will outline Washington’s guideline-driven legislation, requiring physicians whose patients receive more than 120 morphine equivalent doses (MED) a day to order drug tests and psychological screening for dependency and addiction. Additionally, patients who continue taking 120 MED per day for six months are referred to pain specialists.

Paduda will guide the panelists through a lively discussion of how the programs were conceived, challenges to their development and implementation as well as future state initiatives.

Scheduled from April 2-4 at the Omni Orlando Resort at Champion’s Gate, the 2013 National Rx Drug Abuse Summit is the largest national collaboration of professionals from local, state, and federal agencies, business, academia, clinicians, treatment providers, counselors, educators, state and national leaders, and advocates impacted by Rx drug abuse. For more information and to register, please see http://nationalrxdrugabusesummit.org.

About CompPharma

Established by industry consultants Joseph Paduda and Helen Knight, CompPharma, LLC is a consortium of workers’ compensation PBMs active in workers compensation. More information is available at www.comppharma.com or by contacting Helen Knight at 813-837-1701 or hknight@comppharma.com. HSA is a national consulting firm serving insurers, employers and health care providers.

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Media Contact: Helen King Knight, APR, King Knight Communications, 813-837-1701; Mobile 813-690-4787; Helen@kingknight.com