Due to electrical issues in the building, the ASMB servers were temporarily offline which resulted in the ASMB and CCVS websites to not be operational. The servers are now functioning and online orders and renewals can occur. The ASMB would like to thank everyone for their patience and understanding.
UAMS is launching AR-IMPACT (Improving Multi-disciplinary Pain Care and Treatment) for Arkansas physicians to better manage chronic pain patients and those who need their opioid dosage reduced. AR-IMPACT is a weekly free interactive televideo program offering free CME credit. The first conference is scheduled for May 2 and will continue to be held each Wednesday, from 12 to 1 p.m. Please join the conference on Wednesday, May 2, or any subsequent Wednesday at 12pm by clicking here or call in 1-844-885-1319, access code: 415081971#. Read more.
At the April 2018 meeting, the Board requested that an announcement be posted to clarify that per A.C. A. 17-95-104, it is a hospital’s duty to report to the Board any physician whose hospital privileges were revoked, limited, or terminated for any cause including resignation along with pertinent information. The hospital must also report any formal disciplinary action taken against a physician relating to professional ethics, medical incompetence, moral turpitude, or drug/alcohol abuse. To review the complete statute, click here.
The Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) will send the first round of quarterly Prescriber Comparison Reports April 20, 2018 to all those prescribers in Arkansas that have prescribed an opioid between October 2017 - March 2018. These individualized reports provide information regarding current prescription volumes, prescribing behaviors, and PDMP use, and will compare prescribers to others in their chosen specialty. These reports will be sent via email to the prescribers, and will also be available on the prescriber’s PDMP dashboard. If there are questions, please contact the AR PDMP Administrator Denise Robertson, P.D. at denise.robertson@arkansas.gov
Recently the Board has addressed numerous complaints involving a physician’s failure to timely and completely fill out and process death certificates. In order for a physician to avoid Board interaction, the Board reminds and stresses to physicians the importance of complying with Regulation 34 by fully completing death certificates in a timely manner.
Additional Information is available at
At the February 2018 meeting of the Arkansas State Medical Board, numerous public comments were taken regarding proposed changes to Regulation 2. Based on some of those comments, it was determined that some physicians may have misinterpreted the proposed definition of excessive and may be telling patients the Arkansas State Medical Board no longer allows physicians to prescribe certain controlled substances. This is not the case.
The proposed changes do not require that physicians cease prescribing controlled substances. As with any prescription, there must be a documented, detailed medical justification for the prescription in the patient record. For those cases with the documented, detailed medical justification and for which the prescription is written for chronic pain, the change in Regulation 2 would adopt the CDC guidelines limiting the prescription to less than 50 Morphine Milligram Equivalents per day unless the physician documents certain findings in the file. Those findings are delineated in the proposed Regulation.
For those persons being prescribed controlled substances for acute pain, the prescription limitation is 7 days unless there is detailed, documented medical justification in the patient record for a prescription of a longer duration.
Additional Information is available at