Tag: Hope Pain Clinics

W.Va. Closes Three Pain Management Clinics for Noncompliance

  State officials have closed three chronic pain management clinics this year for failing to comply with a law aimed at reducing substance abuse.

The 2012 law gave the Department of Health and Human Resources oversight over pain clinic licensure and codified patient and health safety.

The Register-Herald reports that, since January, the department’s Office of Health Facilities Licensure and Certification has revoked the licenses of the Hope Clinic’s Charleston branch, Beckley Pain Clinic and the pain management operation of Med-Surg Group in Beckley.

Health and Human Resources spokeswoman Allison Adler tells the newspaper that the licensing office will continue a review of applicants until all facilities either achieve compliance or transition patients to other facilities.

W.Va. Pain Clinics Screening Patients for Pill Use

Former narcotics officers are being used at some West Virginia pain clinics to screen patients.

The Charleston Gazette reports Hope pain clinics in Beckley, Fairmont and Kanawha City are charging patients $150 for an initial screening and $75 for subsequent visits.

Raleigh County-based PPPFD Inc. screens the patients for the three clinics. The business name stands for Patients, Physicians, Pharmacists Fighting Diversion.

The screening includes a drug test, background checks and an interview with an officer. Representative Randy Shearer says a controlled substance monitoring database is checked to see if patients have been visiting multiple clinics for prescription pills.

Shearer told state lawmakers last week that the business is helping curb West Virginia’s prescription drug problem by reducing the number of pills on the street.

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