Issues with Office Manager and controlled substances

[weezianna]

For most of my PA career I have worked in NC, and generally in rural areas. There is big business in controlled substances, and I believe that most of those prescribed are for sale and not for personal use, especially in economically-challenged areas.

 

I recently worked in a walk-in clinic where we saw a lot of regulars, and a lot of transient, first timers or "out-of-town" patients looking for controlled meds. First thing is to check the NC Controlled website; if you're close to another state border, check those registries, too. There is no problem showing the patient the door if their name pops up with a suspicious pattern of use.

 

If your office manager is depending on traffic for drug diversion to pad the bottom line, then it's time to call her bluff and tell your SP what's going on. If he/she condones her actions, then it's time to move on. Someone has a deal going somewhere with these scripts.

[jts]

Katypa, You have gotten sound advice from veteran PAs in this thread...please take it! I too am a new PA in an NHSC site who is struggling with patients wanting benzos, Norco, Soma, etc... for ailments that can be treated by other means. Usually, they are so used to getting these drugs that it is like taking candy from a baby.Stick to your guns, though...I am and just the other day a patient came in and told me he feels so much better off "all those drugs" and feels like he has energy for the first time in months. I want to learn family medicine, not be a Pez machine.