Baker: Mass. opioid law could guide other states
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Many people hold up the 2006 Massachusetts health care access law, sometimes called RomneyCare, as a model for the Affordable Care Act, and Gov. Charlie Baker this week was quick to portray the state's new anti-drug addiction law in a similar light.
The Legislature sent its compromise to Baker's desk on Thursday, March 10. Upon returning from a family vacation to Utah, Baker quickly signed the bill on Monday, March 14 and the Centers for Disease Control on Tuesday, March 15 issued guidelines that urge general doctors to consider physical therapy, exercise and over-the-counter pain medications before prescribing opioids for chronic pain.
"Many of the elements of their guidelines look a heck of a lot like a bunch of the elements of that legislation. I believe our legislation is going to end up getting picked up by a lot of other states and is going to become sort of the first act in a whole series of initiatives around the country, which would be great," Baker said Thursday during his "Ask the Governor" segment on WGBH radio.
Baker urged doctors and physicians in Massachusetts to adopt the CDC guidelines and called on other states to pass laws targeting opioids. The governor said he's begun talks with his team about implementing the Massachusetts law, which includes a first-in-the-nation provision limiting an opioid prescription to a seven-day supply for first time adult prescriptions.
"I was looking for something that was more disruptive, but I believe this a great platform to start and we're going to be very enthusiastic about pushing the implementation of it," Baker said on Boston Public Radio. "And we've already had a couple of meetings with the folks at health and human services to talk about sort of the next act here which is its sort of up to us working with the provider community and others to deliver on this."
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