Leading Medication Monitoring Companies form Coalition to Advance Standards of Care for Testing of People with Chronic Pain

WASHINGTON, Nov. 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Several of the nation's leading medication monitoring companies have joined together in a coalition to advance clinical treatment and standards of care for patients who are prescribed opioids for chronic pain.

The Coalition for Excellence in Medication Monitoring seeks to educate policy-makers about the value, clinical advantages and cost-effectiveness of medication monitoring laboratory tests. Coalition members are working to ensure that health care professionals and patients have the best available clinical data to make informed decisions about pain medication utilization and compliance. 

The Coalition will play a critical role in helping set standards for this evolving industry, so that clinicians and patients can be confident that they are receiving the most advanced and reliable monitoring practices available. The Coalition is developing a Code of Conduct to set standards for compliant and ethical practices to best serve clinicians, patients and payors.

It is estimated that 100 million Americans suffer from chronic pain, many of whom rely on powerful prescription painkillers for relief. But as the incidence of opioid prescribing has increased, so has the incidence of misuse and abuse. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2008 poisoning became the leading cause of accidental deaths in the United States -- and 40 percent of those deaths involved opioid analgesics. Non-medical use and abuse of prescription painkillers costs insurance companies up to $72.5 billion each year, the CDC estimated.

Medication monitoring not only helps physicians identify opioid abuse, but also can provide clinicians with critical insights to help them evaluate patient medication adherence and identify potentially dangerous drug-drug interactions.

The coalition's founding members are AIT Laboratories, Ameritox, Calloway Labs and Dominion Diagnostics. For more information, visit www.medicationmonitoring.org.

About the Coalition for Excellence in Medication Monitoring
The Coalition for Excellence in Medication Monitoring (CEMM) is a coalition of the nation's leading medication monitoring laboratories dedicated to providing high-quality laboratory tests as part of the standard of care for treatment of the millions of Americans who suffer from debilitating chronic pain. CEMM seeks to educate policy-makers about the value, clinical appropriateness, and cost-effectiveness of medication monitoring laboratory tests. CEMM is also working to ensure that physicians, health care professionals and patients have the best available clinical data to make informed decisions about pain medication utilization and compliance. For more information, visit www.medicationmonitoring.org.

SOURCE The Coalition for Excellence in Medication Monitoring