By Pat Anson, PNN Editor

A Florida-based chain of surgery centers and pain clinics says a sign that briefly appeared at one of its clinics implying that the company would no longer prescribe opioid medication is unauthorized and untrue.

The sign appeared in a window at Physician Partners of America’s Jacksonville clinic on May 14.  Someone took a picture of the sign and posted it online, where it was widely shared on Twitter and Facebook among pain patients, advocates and doctors.

“ATTENTION ALL PATIENTS,” the sign said in bold red letters. “Per our chief (medical) officer, Dr. Rivera, we will be starting to focus on interventional medicine only and we will not be managing medication. This will be fully effective within the next 30 days or less.”

For someone taking opioid medication for chronic pain, the threat of being cutoff is very real. The potential number of patients that would be impacted would also be significant. Physician Partners of America (PPOA) treats around 20,000 patients in Florida and Texas.

The problem with the sign is that it isn’t true, according to the company.

“This sign was brought to our attention through social media. It was in no way authorized or approved by management, and its message is untrue. It resulted from an employee’s misinterpretation of our goal to reduce opioid dependence,” Maria Hickman, PPOA’s social media and content specialist, said in a statement on the company’s website.

“We recognize the opioid crisis backlash. As an organization, we sympathize with the plight of people who rely on, but who do not intentionally abuse, prescription opioid medications to manage their chronic pain. We aim to show them what we consider a better, safer way to reduce or eliminate pain.”

That “safer way” is interventional pain management, a more aggressive form of treatment that includes epidural steroid injections, nerve blocks, “minimally invasive” spinal procedures, Botox injections, spinal cord stimulators and stem cell therapy. Interventional methods are more expensive than pain medication, are not always covered by insurance, and many patients believe they are neither safer or effective.

PPOA said it would continue prescribing opioids to patients when it is appropriate, adding that they would be tapered to lower doses. “Patients are and will continue to be titrated down according to CDC guidelines; however, there is no cut-off date,” Hickman said.

That part of the company’s statement reflects a common misconception about the CDC’s controversial guideline, which is voluntary and does not mandate tapers. The 2016 guideline only recommends tapering “if benefits do not outweigh harms of continued opioid therapy” and explicitly says tapering should be voluntary, with the patient’s consent.

“Clinicians should emphatically review benefits and risks of continued high-dosage opioid therapy and should offer to work with patients to taper opioids to safer dosages. For patients who agree to taper opioids to lower dosages, clinicians should collaborate with the patient on a tapering plan,” the guideline says.

That part of the guideline has been so widely ignored that CDC Director Robert Redfield, MD, released a letter last month warning doctors not to taper patients without their consent.

“The Guideline does not endorse mandated or abrupt dose reduction or discontinuation, as these actions can result in patient harm,” Redfield said. “The Guideline includes recommendations for clinicians to work with patients to taper or reduce dosage only when patient harm outweighs patient benefit of opioid therapy.”

The marketing of Physician Partners of America clearly states a preference for interventional therapy over opioid medication, so patients who go to a PPOA clinic shouldn’t be surprised if tapering or discontinuation is recommended.

“At its foundation, PPOA uses interventional pain management modalities to treat pain at its source instead of masking it with medication,” the company says. “We have championed remedies to the opioid crisis in public forums, in the media, in televised town halls and at medical conventions. PPOA physicians strictly follow the prescribing laws of the states in which they operate.”

A new law recently went into effect in Florida limiting the initial supply of opioids to 3 days, with a 7-day supply allowed if it is medically necessary. However, the law only applies to acute, short-term pain.  Most of PPOA’s patients suffer from chronic back pain and other long-term chronic conditions.