In accordance with House Bill 93, the State Medical Board of Ohio has finalized its emergency rules on the standards for owning and operating a pain management clinic. Based on the leadership and recommendations of the Ohio State Medical Association (OSMA) Prescription Drug Abuse Committee, the OSMA worked with the Medical Board to address several concerns regarding the potential impact the draft rules had on access to care for chronic pain patients as well as the potential impact the rules would have on legitimate pain physicians currently practicing without sub specialization in pain medicine.

As a result of the OSMA’s efforts of working with the Medical Board, the requirement that a pain management clinic owner must have hospital privileges was removed and several amendments were adopted, including:

• Establishing a limited grandfathering clause for non-board certified pain physicians that have provided full-time clinical services for the last three years in pain medicine, pain management, hospice and palliative medicine, addiction psychiatry, physical medicine and rehabilitation, occupational medicine or rheumatology. The grandfathering clause application deadline is June 20.

• Requirement that all pain management clinic owners, operators and physicians providing care at the clinic are required to complete 20 hours of Category I continuing medical education in pain medicine every two years.

• Allowing any physician to provide care at a pain management clinic under the direction, supervision and control of the physician owner.

Physician applicants under the grandfathering clause are required to submit to an onsite inspection by the Medical Board to determine whether the practice is complying with the minimum standards of care established in the law and rule.

Accordingly, any physician who fails to apply for a pain management clinic license after June 20 will be required to have current subspecialty board certification in pain medicine or hospice and palliative care or board certification by the American Board of Pain Medicine or the American Board of Interventional Pain Physicians.

The OSMA says the amendments will permit pain physicians who have been providing care to chronic pain patients for three continuous years to apply for pain management clinic ownership. The rules strike a balance between enhancing the standards of pain medicine in Ohio and preserving access to care for patients being treated by physicians who have extensive experience in their care, but are not subspecialty board certified pain physicians. The pain medicine CME requirements will ensure all physicians providing care in pain management clinics are educated on the latest medical advances and treatment methods in their field.

A complete copy of the Medical Board’s Rule is available at http://www.osma.org/tools-resources/public-health/prescription-drug-abuse/medical-board-rules.

FRANK LEWIS may be reached at (740) 353-3101, ext. 232, or flewis@heartlandpublications.com.