Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/133443
SPECIAL SECTION: CME ACTIVITY Safeguarding Your Practice From Illegal Drug-seeking Activity TREATING CHRONIC PAIN BRINGS A NEW SET OF LEGAL AND ETHICAL ISSUES TO YOUR PRACTICE. P and misuse is a growing epidemic throughout the United States. Consequently, more and more physicians are encountering drugseeking patients in daily practice. The growing number of individuals trying to obtain prescription drugs for non-therapeutic purposes has become a common problem in hospitals, emergency rooms and physician offices nationwide. Often labeled as "drug-seeking," these patients are a difficult group to manage and evaluate since they may engage in deceptive behaviors in an effort to fool clinicians into giving them additional medications. Assessing legitimate patient pain levels while being aware of drug-seeking activities creates a serious legal and ethical dilemma for the physician — one not easily managed without education. After a 28-year career in law enforcement, Scott Huckabee has focused his efforts to train physicians and their staffs in identifying and safeguarding their practices from illegal drug-seeking activity. His training provides physicians the knowledge needed to feel confident treating chronic pain in today's environment. Scott is the CEO of Huckabee Consulting Inc. and owner of DoctorsSafeguard.Com. "Identifying and Reporting Doctor Shopping," "Identifying and Reporting Prescription Fraud" and "Behavior that Warns of Potentially Violent Patients" are just a few of the programs offered online to bridge the gap in knowledge about drug-seeking patients. The online podcast CME offerings at www.dannemiller.com provide a view of these topics from the law enforcement perspective, offer AMA PRA Category 1 Credit and are intended for physicians and physician assistants. Dannemiller Inc. began in 1984 as the Dannemiller Memorial Educational Foundation in San Antonio, where it remains today. Widely known for its annual anesthesiology and pain management review courses, Dannemiller has grown to become a leader in CME. The company annually accredits more than 250 medical education programs and RESCRIPTION DRUG ABUSE provides more than 50,000 credit hours in a wide variety of therapeutic categories. In 2006, the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) awarded Dannemiller Accreditation with Commendation, a full six-year accreditation that is the highest level awarded by the ACCME. Dannemiller is one of only 18 accredited providers for the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, the California Board of Registered Nursing and the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education. Its flagship website, www.dannemiller.com, has been in existence more than 15 years, with multiple commercial supporters and CME activities. The current number of registered users is well over 62,400. In 2012, more than 88,700 certificates were issued through this website. Today Dannemiller continues to expand its offering to a wide range of specialties in the medical community. The company's educational offerings encompass a multitude of delivery modalities, including one-hour to multiday onsite and regional courses — live lectures and hands-on demonstrations; interactive, computer-based simulations — role playing and case studies; online articles, abstracts, monographs, case studies, slideshows and webinars; portable media for iPod, iPad, DVD and USB; and a variety of online testing databases. I MDNEWS.COM I MD NEWS San Antonio | 15