CPSO OPIOID INVESTIGATIONS
POSTED TO PUBLIC REGISTER
36
NOT POSTED
2
Mandated Remediation Prescribing Restrictions No Action
8 1 6
Mandated Remediation
and a Caution Prescribing Restrictions
and a Caution
3 1
No Longer in Practice
Referral to Discipline
SUBTOTAL
Investigations in progress
TOTAL
good patient care and our goal is to ensure that physi-
cians have the resources and information they need to
prescribe appropriately,” he said.
Dr. Bodley stated that physicians should never
abruptly cease their patients’ access to opioids, nor
should they rapidly taper their patients’ doses.
The outcomes of the completed investigations are
included in the table above.
What do the investigative
outcomes mean?
Investigations that arise from receipt of informa-
tion from the NMS entail seeking more information
from the prescribing physician and others in order
to better understand and evaluate the prescribing.
These investigations include a review of patient
charts and interviews by an external assessor to
understand whether the physician is practising to
current standards, in the patient’s best interest. After
a comprehensive investigation has been completed,
20
22
DIALOGUE ISSUE 1, 2018
Advice
2
Remedial
Self-Study
81
3
84
the Inquiries, Complaints and Reports Committee
(ICRC), which oversees and determines the outcome
of investigations, decides the outcome from a variety
of available options:
No Action
When the investigation confirms that the care provid-
ed by the physician is appropriate, no further action
will be taken.
Examples of situations in which it is appropriate to
take no further action are:
• Patients are receiving appropriate care;
• Dosages are being tapered, when clinically indicated
to the patient’s circumstances. In some cases, physi-
cians have changed their own prescribing practices in
response to more recent evidence, or they are taper-
ing dosage levels initiated by other physicians.
If an investigation results in no action, the outcome
will not be available on the public register.