What happens when I sign a medication agreement for controlled medications?

Who is testing who? Is this for work? Where do you live?

If you’re getting help paying for your medications (such as from the state), this is actually a common practice in clinics where I live. They test you for illegal drug use, and also to see whether or not other prescription-only medications are in your system before they will prescribe the medication you need.

Even if it’s been 4 months but you now need to refill your prescription, they will absolutely test you for other drugs. Again, where I’m from, this only happens if you’re getting help from the state to pay for the drugs you need.

The doctors I work for have patients sign a similar agreement. In the agreement, they agree that they won’t get the medications from any other doctor or get their prescriptions filled at any pharmacy other than the one they write on the agreement. If they are caught violating the agreement, the doctor will no longer prescribe narcotics for them. If the agreement says they will test you, then I would be prepared to get tested for drugs when you go to get a refill.

@Seaofclouds They agree to not get any other medications from any other doctors, or simply the exact med that the doctors you work for prescribed? Why do they make them sign this? Doesn’t it interfere with proper treatment?

@papayalily They agree not to get any other narcotics from any other doctor. They do it to stop people from hopping from one doctor to the next to get narcotics (we have several patients that have abused narcotics in the past, this is the doctor’s way of trying to help control it). It doesn’t interfere with proper treatment because the doctor’s see these patients at least once a month to see how they are doing and refill their prescriptions.

I’ve only seen them stop prescribing for one patient and that was because he was getting narcotics from 2 other doctors as well and using 3 pharmacies. He got caught when he mixed up his pharmacies and a different pharmacy called us for a refill. After a lot of talking to the pharmacies and the other doctor’s offices, we figured out exactly how much he had gotten. Since he had an agreement, our doctor told him she wouldn’t be prescribing it anymore and that the other doctors office could do it from now on. She also discussed that with the other doctor and the other doctor was fine with that arrangement.

@Seaofclouds Do you do it with every patient that gets prescribed narcotics, or just the ones with known issues?
Is it all narcotics, or all controlled substances?
By interfering with proper treatment, I mean this, for example: I have had many different doctors prescribe me Vicodin. I’ve had my gynecologist prescribe it at one point for endometriosis, my gynecological surgeon prescribe it for after surgery, my PCP prescribe it for a sprained ankle, and a sports doctor prescribe it after a car accident. If I had signed an agreement with any of them, it would mean that I couldn’t go to the proper doctor to get a proper diagnosis with proper treatment, only to that one doctor with the agreement.

@papayalily It’s not done with every patient, just the ones that are on the medications long term (for months and years). It can be for any medication the doctor wants to do it for really.

If the patient sees another doctor, they need to alert the other doctor of what medications they are already on anyway. If they go to a different doctor for pain of some kind and they tell the doctor that they are already on Vicodin or Dilaudid, the doctor most likely isn’t going to give then more of that medicine. If they explain this to the other doctor they are seeing, the other doctor can call our office to discuss the medications if necessary. I work at a family practice and majority of the patients don’t see other doctors unless referred to them by our doctors. Whenever our doctors refer a patient to another doctor, we call the doctor and discuss the referral with them before they even see the patient. At that time, we discuss the agreement if there is one so that the other office is aware. Then the two doctors will discuss the best thing to do from there. The agreements can be modified when necessary.

I get what you are saying and really, if something like that came up, they would need to tell the doctor as soon as possible. Our doctors will bend over backwards for their patients to get them in when they need to be seen and even calling them after hours to check on them. I’ve missed lunch and worked late many times just so the doctors could continue to see patients.