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DEA publishes guidance on new training requirements for prescribers of controlled substances

On March 28, 2023, the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) released recommendations and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) issued specific guidance on how practitioners can meet the new training requirements for DEA-registered prescribers of controlled substances.  The new law requires all prescribers of schedule II – V controlled substances to meet a one-time eight-hour training requirement on identifying, treating, and managing patients with opioid or other substance use disorders. Many California-licensed physicians may have already met the new DEA requirements because California requires similar education. While the California Medical Association (CMA) did not ...

Gov. Newsom proposal would add billions for mental health treatment beds

In a major legislative proposal to combat the state’s growing homelessness crisis, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Sunday an effort to push billions of dollars toward building a vast network of treatment beds to help California’s mentally ill and drug-addicted residents find care. Through a bond measure that could reach up to $5 billion, the governor hopes to build at minimum 6,000 new mental health beds across the state. Funding would also come through the diversion of over $1 billion annually from a pool of money created by a proposition passed ...

California Senate’s New Health Chair to Prioritize Mental Health and Homelessness

Article by Rachel Bluth of California Healthline  California state Sen. Susan Talamantes Eggman, a Stockton Democrat who was instrumental in passing Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature mental health care legislation last year, has been appointed to lead the Senate’s influential health committee, a change that promises a more urgent focus on expanding mental health services and moving homeless people into housing and treatment. Eggman, a licensed social worker, co-authored the novel law that allows families, clinicians, first responders, and others to petition a judge to mandate government-funded treatment and services for people ...

New California Health Laws for 2023

While the legislature passed various new laws impacting health care in California, significant focus was placed on legislation intended to protect physicians and patients in response to the United States Supreme Court decision in Dobbs. The California Medical Association (CMA) published a summary of new laws of interest to physicians that cover reproductive rights, emergency services, healthcare facilities, and more. You can view the PDF HERE.

Physician Burnout Rate Spikes to New Height

New physician burnout research builds on landmark studies conducted at regular intervals between 2011 and 2021 by researchers from the American Medica Association (AMA, Mayo Clinic and Stanford Medicine. Together, these studies found the overall prevalence of burnout among U.S. physicians was 62.8% in 2021compared with 38.2% in 2020, 43.9% in 2017, 54.4% in 2014, and 45.5% in 2011. CHICAGO - The burnout rate among physicians in the United States spiked dramatically during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a newly published study in Mayo Clinic Proceedings. Researchers found that ...