A new tool is available for Indiana medical providers to fulfill continuing education requirements. The training is focused on opioid prescribing and abuse.
A state mandate passed last year requires doctors, nurse practitioners and others who prescribe controlled substances to receive added opioid education. A new app from the Indiana State Medical Association is free for those providers.
ISMA President Stacie Wenk says it’s important to keep up to date.
"Our options for treatments are new, our thought process on how we manage these people, how we decriminalize addiction so we are able to hear and help people," says Wenk.
The training provides video courses and podcast series that are offered in 30-minute segments. The app was created through a grant from the Richard M Fairbanks Foundation.
Wenk says the continued education mandate was created in response to the addiction epidemic.
"To avoid the opioid overdoses and deaths that we’re struggling with in the state of Indiana," says Wenk.
Providers have to complete an additional two hours of education every two years.