Thousands of physicians miss Florida's mandatory course on opioid prescribing practices

Roughly 1 in 4 Florida healthcare practitioners failed to attend a mandatory two-hour continuing education course discussing proper opioid prescribing practices by the Jan. 31 deadline, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

Three things to know:

1. A 2018 state law requires all medical practitioners who can legally prescribe controlled substances for pain treatment to take continuing education courses on controlled substances as part of their license requirements. The law reportedly affects an estimated 114,000 providers statewide.

2. The state health department plans to send noncompliance letters advising providers they have 15 days to take the mandated course or face disciplinary action, the report states. State health officials sent at least 13 email reminders about the course to affected providers, with nine of those messages sent during December and January.

3. While state officials could not provide compliance rates for each medical profession, they said overall compliance among all professions was 74.2 percent, the report states.

To access the full report, click here.

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