A primary care physician, Gary J. Sprouse, MD, is actively involved in the treatment of alcohol and opioid dependence. Based in Chester, Maryland, Gary J. Sprouse, MD, is a member of MedChi, the Maryland State Medical Society, an organization that is working to control Maryland’s opioid addiction problem.
In 2015, MedChi partnered with local organizations to enroll the state’s physicians in a program to continuously monitor the prescription of drugs containing dangerous controlled substances. The program has been running for the last two years. In addition to monitoring prescriptions, MedChi has been delivering Continuing Medical Education (CME) credits on opioid issues to physicians all over the state. Today, every physician in the state of Maryland has received at least one credit on opioid-related issues.
These initiatives are beginning to bear fruit. A recent study by QuintilesIMS, in partnership with the American Medical Association, revealed that between 2013 and 2016, Maryland’s opioid prescriptions reduced by 13.3 percent from 4,229,380 to 3,664,825. In addition, over the four-year period, the state has continuously prescribed fewer opioids than the national average. In 2016, physicians in the state prescribed 0.06 opioids per capita, which was lower than the national average of 0.07 per capita.
