In continuing efforts to address the serious issues related to the misuse of prescription opioids, the California Medical Association’s Institute for Medical Quality (IMQ) is participating in a second round of funding to make available grants to continuing medical education (CME) providers who conduct Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved opioid training for physicians, pharmacists and other health care providers.

On July 9, 2012, the FDA launched a risk evaluation and mitigation strategy (REMS) for extended-release and long-acting opioid medications. IMQ participates in REMS as part of the Collaborative on REMS Education (CO*RE), a multidisciplinary group working together to improve pain management and prevent adverse outcomes. CO*RE has designed a curriculum that satisfies the FDA requirements for REMS training. In the first funding round, IMQ awarded grants to 22 CME providers to conduct the required REMS training.

A REMS session was held at the 2013 Health Care Leadership Academy and, with the training conducted by CME providers, a total of 660 participants completing the training, the majority being physicians. In this second funding round, CO*RE improved the REMS presentations and expanded the resource materials available for use in the training, which must be completed by December 2015. IMQ has awarded grants to 18 CME providers, ranging between $1,400 and $3,300. If you are interested in applying for one of the 14 remaining grants, contact Julie Hopkins at jhopkins@imq.org.