SENATE MEMORIAL 29

48th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2008

INTRODUCED BY

James G. Taylor

A MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE NEW MEXICO MEDICAL BOARD TO PROMULGATE RULES ENSURING TRANSPARENCY REGARDING FINANCIAL INCENTIVES FOR CLINICAL DECISIONS AND ENJOINING PHYSICIANS TO PROVIDE PRIOR NOTIFICATION OF MEDICATION CHANGES.

     WHEREAS, across the United States, many insurance companies are taking steps to encourage physicians and patients to switch medicines based increasingly on cost considerations and, perhaps, without appropriate regard for what the best treatment option is for an individual patient; and

     WHEREAS, generic prescriptions approved by the federal food and drug administration are safe and effective and often represent an opportunity for greatly needed health care cost savings; and

     WHEREAS, many patients assume that physicians use their clinical expertise and ethical guidelines when making treatment decisions, including the writing of prescriptions; and

     WHEREAS, the physician-patient relationship relies upon the confidential, honest and transparent exchange of information; and

     WHEREAS, physicians receiving financial incentives to prescribe certain medications violate the integrity of the physician-patient relationship when they fail to inform their patients of the financial incentives they receive for prescribing medication pursuant to these incentives; and

     WHEREAS, the New Mexico legislature recognizes that patients should be notified by their prescribing physicians when the physicians receive financial incentives for interchanging or substituting patient medications pursuant to these incentives, be the medications brand-name or generic;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the New Mexico medical board be requested to promulgate rules to ensure the utmost transparency when physicians receive financial incentives for clinical decisions; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the New Mexico medical board enjoin physicians receiving financial compensation for clinical decisions from interchanging a patient's medication, whether it be brand-name or generic, without prior notification of the change to the patient or the patient's parent, legal guardian or spouse; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this memorial be transmitted to the New Mexico medical board.

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