College Releases Outcomes
of Opioid Investigations
Interim Update finds CPSO takes remedial approach, where possible
T
he College is committed
to ensuring that physi-
cians practise compe-
tently. One important
way in which we accomplish this
goal is by conducting comprehen-
sive and timely investigations of
doctors when concerns are raised
about prescribing practices that
may be inconsistent with best prac-
tices and good patient care.
In November 2016, the College
confirmed that we were investi-
gating some physicians related to
their opioid prescribing based on
data received from the Ontario
government’s Narcotics Monitor-
ing System (NMS). In accordance
with the statutory requirement
to maintain confidentiality about
ongoing investigations, no details
were provided at that time. The fol-
lowing is an interim update on the
outcomes of the investigations that
have been completed to date. We
anticipate that the remaining inves-
tigations will be completed by the
end of December 2017, at which
time we will provide an update on
those outcomes.
The College initiated investiga-
tions into 84 physicians’ practices
based on information received from
the NMS. To date, 56 investiga-
tions have been completed and 28
investigations are in progress and
ISSUE 3, 2017 DIALOGUE
9