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Opioid Prescribing Patterns and Prescriber Discipline in Tennessee

Opioid Presribers

January 2020

Author: Kristina Podesta

Legislative Brief
Snapshot

A 2018 state law required the Comptroller’s Office to determine the number of prescribers in Tennessee
whose prescribing patterns are found to be “significantly statistically abnormal,” and to investigate what disciplinary responses, if any, were taken by the licensing boards in response.

Based on OREA’s review of Department of Health records, board meeting minutes, and public discipline records for each of the 62 prescribers identified by OREA, this report presents four key conclusions about the prescriber discipline process in Tennessee, and three policy options for consideration by the General Assembly and Department of Health.