Kansas has the highest COVID count in the country, the numbers have doubled in the last three weeks and hospitals all over are still slammed by the surge. Those were the main points brought home by 17 hospital chief medical officers who gathered for a news and community conference call today. The group also spent time discussing Kansas Senate Bill 381, which would require pharmacists to fill any prescription for an off label use of a drug. An example would be a prescription for ivermectin to treat COVID. A letter from The University of Kansas Health System in opposition of the bill is below.

Here are the 17 doctors who participated in the order they spoke. The link to the entire news conference is above.

• Dr. Steve Stites, chief medical officer, The University of Kansas Health System
• Dr. Richard Watson, co-founder, Motient
• Dr. Lisa Hays, Chief Medical Officer, Advent Health Shawnee Mission
• Dr. Kim Megow, Chief Medical Officer, HCA Midwest Health
• Dr. Raghu Adiga, Chief Medical Officer, Liberty Hospital
• Dr. Elizabeth Long, Chief Medical Officer at Olathe Health
• Dr. Mark Steele, Executive Chief Clinical Officer, University Health-Truman
• Dr. Patricia A. Martin, St. Luke's Health System, VP of Medical Affairs, South and East Regions
• Dr. Ahmad Batrash, Chief of Staff, Kansas City VA Hospital
• Dr. Jennifer Schrimsher, infectious diseases physician at LMH Health and deputy public health officer for Douglas County
• Dr. Jackie Hyland, Chief Medical Officer, The University of Kansas Health System - St. Francis Campus
• Dr. Kevin Dishman, Chief Medical Officer, Stormont Vail Health
• Dr. Samer "Sam" Antonios, Chief Clinical Officer, Ascension Via Christi Health
• Dr. Robert Freelove, Chief Medical Officer, Salina Regional Health Center
• Dr. Heather Harris, Medical Director, HaysMed
• Dr. James Alexander, Chief Medical Officer, Centura - St. Catherine
• Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director of Infection Prevention and Control, The University of Kansas Health System

Key points on the Senate Bill from the panel:

Dr. Stites

• “You can write of off label medications when there’s medical evidence that supports its use.”
• Articles originally supporting ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine had to be retracted for falsifying information

Dr. Hawkinson

• “I’m not aware that any of those people wanting to do this are board certified infectious disease specialists, pharmacologists, virologists or immunologists.”
• Evidence based medicine rather than opinion based medicine is best

Dr. Freelove

• “I’m baffled at the intrusion to practicing medicine.” “That’s a pretty slippery slope to a pretty dangerous place.”
• “If we’re going to require something, why not require something that we know works, like vaccines.”

Dr. Dishman

• “The patient-physician relationship is sacred. To try to circumvent that process through mandation, through state law, is very concerning to me, and I believe it should be concerning to all physicians in the state of Kansas.”

Dr. Schrimsher

• Pharmacists are safety net for patients. “If I prescribe something that has a critical drug interaction with medication that I had no idea that patient was on, the pharmacist is the last line of protection for that patient.”

Dr. Steven W. Stites

Executive Vice President of Clinical Affairs Chief Medical Officer

January 26, 2022

Chairman Hilderbrand and Members of the Public Health and Welfare Committee Kansas State Capitol

Topeka, Kansas

Senator Hilderbrand and Members of the Committee:

We write today in opposition to SB 381. The legislation would require a pharmacist to dispense the defined prescriptions and sets aside the ability and moral obligation for the highly skilled, educated and trained professional pharmacist to exercise and practice their professional medical judgment. Additionally, SB 381 directly conflicts with standards included within the Kansas Pharmacy Practice Act and the Kansas Board of Healing Arts.

Pharmacists have spent years in training and education, enhancing their medical expertise and today are among the most respected healthcare professions. They are a critical link in the continuum-of-care and routinely offer important advice to patients, always with the safety and well-being of the patient first and foremost. Patients expect their physicians and pharmacists to provide sound advice and medical judgment and often times explain the benefits and side effects of a prescription. Through the years the working relationships and partnerships between physicians and pharmacists have grown and improved all to the benefit of patients.

SB 381 removes highly skilled and valued medical judgment and replaces it with inappropriate non-scientific mandates. Kansas does not do this with any other prescription and we do not believe there is a need to “mandate” pharmacists to take this action. We believe it is in the best interest of patients to continue to allow them to work with their respective care teams, including pharmacists, to develop appropriate care plans.  Attempting to put specific care plans in statute is ill-advised, unnecessary and could lead to significant harm to citizens of Kansas.

Further, we understand there exists a parallel bill (SB 308) which would mandate physicians and other licensed health care entities to administer such medications even against their own professional judgment. We could not voice stronger opposition to actions such as mandating licensed professionals to act against their professional judgment and against their own licensing standards.

Lastly, the notion of liability protection for action required to be taken under this bill that is directly contrary to existing provisions of practice acts for physicians and pharmacists is inappropriate. As practitioners, we rely on physicians and pharmacists to use their professional judgment in acting within the scope of their license.

As healthcare professionals we understand the frustration and fatigue caused by the pandemic. We all want the pandemic to be over and return to some type of normal. We will get past COVID-19, until we do so, we should not substitute law for sound, evidence-based medical judgment.

We respectfully ask you and your committee to oppose SB 381. We also are happy to engage in a more complete dialog about why we believe this to be unnecessary and inappropriate public policy. Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Steve Stites, M.D.

Chief Medical Officer

The University of Kansas Health System

Talal W. Khan, M.D., MBA President

The University of Kansas Physicians

Sam Antonios, M.D. Chief Clinical Officer