NCMB has added additional questions and answers about the state’s new opioids law, the STOP Act of 2017, to the FAQs document available on the Board’s website.

New additions to the list include:

Information about NCMB’s definition of “consultation” between a PA or NP and his or her supervisor prior to prescribing Schedule II/III opioids (see article)

Clarification as to whether a primary care practice that offers pain management as part of a full spectrum of primary care services is considered a “pain clinic”

Guidance on how limits on initial prescriptions for acute pain apply when the patient being treated for acute pain is also a chronic pain patient.

Have a question about the new law? Send it to forum@ncmedboard.org. We’ll take a look and determine if it should be added to our FAQs.

Reminder: Limits on initial prescriptions for acute and post-operative pain (no more than five days or seven days, respectively) will be in effect January 1.