Tapering Complaints
| Tracking # |
D000634-011122 |
| Submitted | Jan. 11, 2022 |
| Est. Completion | Nov. 6, 2023 |
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Communications
From: Natalie St. John
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Washington Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:
All internal and external communications that include any the phrases "forced tapering" or "forced taper", or "cold turkey" AND one or more of the following words or phrases: "painkillers", "analgesics" "opioid analgesics", "opioids", "opioid", "Oxy", "Oxycontin", "methadone", "Morphine", "ms contin", "painkiller(s)", "pain pill", and/or "pain medicine" or "pain medication".
I seek communications that were sent or received between January 1, 2010 and January 10, 2022. I am specifically interested in communications that pertain to complaints, discussion of, and concerns about swift reductions of opioid pain medications. You may exclude any communications that are clearly not related to opioid prescribing practices. Additionally, to avoid the labor-intensive and time-consuming process of redacting HIPAA information, you may exclude letters from patients /pain sufferers whose communications contain HIPAA information. I expect that the remaining responsive communications will include letters from physicians and other healthcare practitioners, as a well as communications to, from and between DOH staff. In all likelihood, these parties will not have included HIPAA information in their communications, so limiting the response in this way should eliminate the need for any comprehensive redaction. Please feel welcome to call me to discuss if you have questions or concerns.
Please be sure to include attachments to emails. If you anticipate a large response or will require an extended response time, I would greatly appreciate installments of responsive documents.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or thumb-drive if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 5 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Natalie St. John
From: Washington State Department Of Health
Dear Natalie St. John: Thank you for submitting a public records request to the Washington State Department of Health. Your request has been received and is being processed in accordance with the State of Washington Public Records Act, Chapter 42.56 RCW. Your request was received in this office on 1/11/2022 and given the reference number D000634-011122 for tracking purposes. You will receive an official acknowledgement letter within 5 business days from this date. Not all public documents are available in electronic format. If the document(s) requested are not available electronically, we will make them available for inspection or by paper copy in accordance with the Public Records Act, Chapter 42.56 RCW. Sincerely, Washington State Department of Health Disease Control and Health Statistics Public Records To monitor the progress or update this request please log into the DOH Online Public Records Center
From: Washington State Department Of Health
--- Please respond above this line ---
Reference # D000634-011122
Dear Natalie St. John, Thank you for your inquiry.
The Department of Health received your public records request on January 11, 2022 for the following records:
“To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Washington Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:
All internal and external communications that include any the phrases "forced tapering" or "forced taper", or "cold turkey" AND one or more of the following words or phrases: "painkillers", "analgesics" "opioid analgesics", "opioids", "opioid", "Oxy", "Oxycontin", "methadone", "Morphine", "ms contin", "painkiller(s)", "pain pill", and/or "pain medicine" or "pain medication".
I seek communications that were sent or received between January 1, 2010 and January 10, 2022. I am specifically interested in communications that pertain to complaints, discussion of, and concerns about swift reductions of opioid pain medications. You may exclude any communications that are clearly not related to opioid prescribing practices. Additionally, to avoid the labor-intensive and time-consuming process of redacting HIPAA information, you may exclude letters from patients /pain sufferers whose communications contain HIPAA information. I expect that the remaining responsive communications will include letters from physicians and other healthcare practitioners, as a well as communications to, from and between DOH staff. In all likelihood, these parties will not have included HIPAA information in their communications, so limiting the response in this way should eliminate the need for any comprehensive redaction. Please feel welcome to call me to discuss if you have questions or concerns.
Please be sure to include attachments to emails. If you anticipate a large response or will require an extended response time, I would greatly appreciate installments of responsive documents.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or thumb-drive if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 5 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Natalie St. John
Upload documents directly: https://www.muckrock.com/
The Department of Health is in the process of identifying, gathering, and reviewing the records responsive to your request. We anticipate providing records responsive to this request on or before 06/29/2022.
WAC 246-08-990 (RCW 42.56.120) authorizes the Department of Health to collect fees for providing copies either electronically or in paper format. After we have determined the number of records responsive to your request, we will give you a cost estimate for production of the records. Here is a link to the public records fee schedule. If you wish to limit your request, or if you have any questions, please feel free respond directly to this email. Sincerely,
RICHARD STRINGFELLOW Richard Stringfellow
Gender Pronouns: he/him
Forms and Records Analyst 3
Health Systems Quality Assurance
Public Records
www.doh.wa.gov
From: Natalie St. John
Thank you. I would welcome installments of records as they become available. I appreciate your help with my request.
From: Washington State Department Of Health
--- Please respond above this line ---
Reference # D000634-011122 Dear Natalie St. John, The Department of Health received a public records request from you on January 11, 2022. You requested the following: "To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Washington Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:
All internal and external communications that include any the phrases "forced tapering" or "forced taper", or "cold turkey" AND one or more of the following words or phrases: "painkillers", "analgesics" "opioid analgesics", "opioids", "opioid", "Oxy", "Oxycontin", "methadone", "Morphine", "ms contin", "painkiller(s)", "pain pill", and/or "pain medicine" or "pain medication".
I seek communications that were sent or received between January 1, 2010 and January 10, 2022. I am specifically interested in communications that pertain to complaints, discussion of, and concerns about swift reductions of opioid pain medications. You may exclude any communications that are clearly not related to opioid prescribing practices. Additionally, to avoid the labor-intensive and time-consuming process of redacting HIPAA information, you may exclude letters from patients /pain sufferers whose communications contain HIPAA information. I expect that the remaining responsive communications will include letters from physicians and other healthcare practitioners, as a well as communications to, from and between DOH staff. In all likelihood, these parties will not have included HIPAA information in their communications, so limiting the response in this way should eliminate the need for any comprehensive redaction. Please feel welcome to call me to discuss if you have questions or concerns.
Please be sure to include attachments to emails. If you anticipate a large response or will require an extended response time, I would greatly appreciate installments of responsive documents.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or thumb-drive if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 5 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Natalie St. John
Upload documents directly: https://www.muckrock.com/ Your request requires collecting, copying and reviewing a large number of records. Completed documents will be provided to you in installments of approximately 250 pages. We have located and assembled records responsive to your request for installment one, copies of which are now available to you. These records have been uploaded to the DOH Public Records Center. You will need to log into your portal account to access your requested records. Some information within your requested records may have been withheld. If only a portion of information was withheld, please see the Redaction Summary located at the end of your records for a list of redactions applied to the records. If any records were withheld in their entirety, please refer to the Exemption Log that has been provided to you. NOTE: Pop-up Blockers on your web browser will need to be disabled to download files from this site. You will receive the next installment on or before July 28, 2022 and will continue to receive installments until your request has been fulfilled. Should you no longer need this information, please contact our office by responding directly to this email. Sincerely, Lori Membreno
Health Systems Quality Assurance Washington State Department of Health
Public Records Unit
From: Natalie St. John
Hi there Ms. Membreno,
Thank you for this installment. I sincerely appreciate your hard work on my request. That said, I was disappointed to discover that none of the emails included their attachments. The internal DOH emails you sent me may be relevant to my request, but without the attachments to which they refer, I have no way of knowing, as the emails themselves mostly only say to see the attachments.
Can you please explain to me why they were not included? Please correct me if I am wrong, but to the best of my understanding, there is no provision in the state open records act that says that attachments are not subject to disclosure, or that I have to specifically request attachments. It should be understood that if an email is about an attachment, that attachment is responsive to the request.
Unfortunately, this means I may have to file several follow-up requests to get specific attachments for many of these emails, which means a lot more work for both of us. For all future installments, please include attachments so that we can avoid potentially dozens more requests.
If you have any questions about what I am looking for, I would be more than happy to talk with you.
Thank you,
Natalie St. John
From: Washington State Department Of Health
--- Please respond above this line ---
Dear Natalie St. John,
I understand your concern. Unfortunately, when we load the emails into our system, all the attachments print at the end. We have approximately 14 more segments to go through for redactions and then release to you as installments. The attachments for the emails will be included in those segments.
If you still have questions or concerns once you've received all the records, please reach out again.
Sincerely,
Julie Carrick
Department of Health
Public Disclosure
From: Natalie St. John
Ok, thank you for the clarification. If it helps at all, I saw that there were a lot of duplicates of the same emails. I don't need more than one copy of any given email, so if that would cut down on your redaction work, I'd be happy to modify my request.
Thank you,
Natalie
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I'm following up on the following Washington Public Records Act request, copied below, and originally submitted on Jan. 12, 2022. You previously indicated that it would be completed on June 29, 2022. I wanted to let you know that I am still interested in the following documents, and to see if that date was still accurate. You had assigned it reference number #D000634-011122.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Washington State Department Of Health
--- Please respond above this line ---
Hi Natalie, I apologize for any confusion. Our estimate of June 29th was just for the first installment. You received the first installment on June 13th and are on track to receive the next one on or before July 28th. WAC 44-14-040 (10) Providing records in installments. When the request is for a large number of records, the public records officer or designee will provide access for inspection and copying in installments, if he or she reasonably determines that it would be practical to provide the records in that way. Your request is over 3000 pages, so we will be providing records to you on an installment basis. Sincerely, Julie Carrick Department of Health Health Systems Quality Assurance Public Disclosure
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I'm following up on the following Washington Public Records Act request, copied below, and originally submitted on Jan. 12, 2022. You had previously indicated that it would be completed on June 29, 2022. I wanted to check on the status of my request, and to see if there was a new estimated completion date. You had assigned it reference number #D000634-011122.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Washington State Department Of Health
--- Please respond above this line ---
Reference # D000634-011122 Dear Natalie St. John, The Department of Health received a public records request from you on January 11, 2022. You requested the following: "To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Washington Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:
All internal and external communications that include any the phrases "forced tapering" or "forced taper", or "cold turkey" AND one or more of the following words or phrases: "painkillers", "analgesics" "opioid analgesics", "opioids", "opioid", "Oxy", "Oxycontin", "methadone", "Morphine", "ms contin", "painkiller(s)", "pain pill", and/or "pain medicine" or "pain medication".
I seek communications that were sent or received between January 1, 2010 and January 10, 2022. I am specifically interested in communications that pertain to complaints, discussion of, and concerns about swift reductions of opioid pain medications. You may exclude any communications that are clearly not related to opioid prescribing practices. Additionally, to avoid the labor-intensive and time-consuming process of redacting HIPAA information, you may exclude letters from patients /pain sufferers whose communications contain HIPAA information. I expect that the remaining responsive communications will include letters from physicians and other healthcare practitioners, as a well as communications to, from and between DOH staff. In all likelihood, these parties will not have included HIPAA information in their communications, so limiting the response in this way should eliminate the need for any comprehensive redaction. Please feel welcome to call me to discuss if you have questions or concerns.
Please be sure to include attachments to emails. If you anticipate a large response or will require an extended response time, I would greatly appreciate installments of responsive documents.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or thumb-drive if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 5 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Natalie St. John
Upload documents directly: https://www.muckrock.com/ Your request requires collecting, copying and reviewing a large number of records. Completed documents will be provided to you in installments of approximately 250 pages. We have located and assembled records responsive to your request for installment # two, copies of which are now available to you. These records have been uploaded to the DOH Public Records Center. You will need to log into your portal account to access your requested records. Some information within your requested records may have been withheld. If only a portion of information was withheld, please see the Redaction Summary located at the end of your records for a list of redactions applied to the records. If any records were withheld in their entirety, please refer to the Exemption Log that has been provided to you. NOTE: Pop-up Blockers on your web browser will need to be disabled to download files from this site. You will receive the next installment on or before September 09, 2022 and will continue to receive installments until your request has been fulfilled. Should you no longer need this information, please contact our office by responding directly to this email. Sincerely, Lori Membreno, FRA2 Washington State Department of Health
Health Systems Quality Assurance
Public Records Unit
From: Washington State Department Of Health
--- Please respond above this line ---
Reference # D000634-011122 Dear Natalie St. John, The Department of Health received a public records request from you on January 11, 2022. You requested the following: "To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Washington Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:
All internal and external communications that include any the phrases "forced tapering" or "forced taper", or "cold turkey" AND one or more of the following words or phrases: "painkillers", "analgesics" "opioid analgesics", "opioids", "opioid", "Oxy", "Oxycontin", "methadone", "Morphine", "ms contin", "painkiller(s)", "pain pill", and/or "pain medicine" or "pain medication".
I seek communications that were sent or received between January 1, 2010 and January 10, 2022. I am specifically interested in communications that pertain to complaints, discussion of, and concerns about swift reductions of opioid pain medications. You may exclude any communications that are clearly not related to opioid prescribing practices. Additionally, to avoid the labor-intensive and time-consuming process of redacting HIPAA information, you may exclude letters from patients /pain sufferers whose communications contain HIPAA information. I expect that the remaining responsive communications will include letters from physicians and other healthcare practitioners, as a well as communications to, from and between DOH staff. In all likelihood, these parties will not have included HIPAA information in their communications, so limiting the response in this way should eliminate the need for any comprehensive redaction. Please feel welcome to call me to discuss if you have questions or concerns.
Please be sure to include attachments to emails. If you anticipate a large response or will require an extended response time, I would greatly appreciate installments of responsive documents.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or thumb-drive if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 5 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Natalie St. John
Upload documents directly: https://www.muckrock.com/ Your request requires collecting, copying and reviewing a large number of records. Completed documents will be provided to you in installments of approximately 250 pages. We have located and assembled records responsive to your request for installment three, copies of which are now available to you. These records have been uploaded to the DOH Public Records Center. You will need to log into your portal account to access your requested records. Some information within your requested records may have been withheld. If only a portion of information was withheld, please see the Redaction Summary located at the end of your records for a list of redactions applied to the records. If any records were withheld in their entirety, please refer to the Exemption Log that has been provided to you. NOTE: Pop-up Blockers on your web browser will need to be disabled to download files from this site. You will receive the next installment on or before October 07, 2022 and will continue to receive installments until your request has been fulfilled. Should you no longer need this information, please contact our office by responding directly to this email. Sincerely, Lori Membreno, FRA2 Washington Department of Health
Health Systems Quality Assurance
Public Records Unit
From: Washington State Department Of Health
--- Please respond above this line ---
Reference # D000634-011122 Dear Natalie St. John, The Department of Health received a public records request from you on January 11, 2022. You requested the following: "To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Washington Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:
All internal and external communications that include any the phrases "forced tapering" or "forced taper", or "cold turkey" AND one or more of the following words or phrases: "painkillers", "analgesics" "opioid analgesics", "opioids", "opioid", "Oxy", "Oxycontin", "methadone", "Morphine", "ms contin", "painkiller(s)", "pain pill", and/or "pain medicine" or "pain medication".
I seek communications that were sent or received between January 1, 2010 and January 10, 2022. I am specifically interested in communications that pertain to complaints, discussion of, and concerns about swift reductions of opioid pain medications. You may exclude any communications that are clearly not related to opioid prescribing practices. Additionally, to avoid the labor-intensive and time-consuming process of redacting HIPAA information, you may exclude letters from patients /pain sufferers whose communications contain HIPAA information. I expect that the remaining responsive communications will include letters from physicians and other healthcare practitioners, as a well as communications to, from and between DOH staff. In all likelihood, these parties will not have included HIPAA information in their communications, so limiting the response in this way should eliminate the need for any comprehensive redaction. Please feel welcome to call me to discuss if you have questions or concerns.
Please be sure to include attachments to emails. If you anticipate a large response or will require an extended response time, I would greatly appreciate installments of responsive documents.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or thumb-drive if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 5 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Natalie St. John
Upload documents directly: https://www.muckrock.com/ Your request requires collecting, copying and reviewing a large number of records. Completed documents will be provided to you in installments of approximately 250 pages. We have located and assembled records responsive to your request for installment four, copies of which are now available to you. These records have been uploaded to the DOH Public Records Center. You will need to log into your portal account to access your requested records. Some information within your requested records may have been withheld. If only a portion of information was withheld, please see the Redaction Summary located at the end of your records for a list of redactions applied to the records. If any records were withheld in their entirety, please refer to the Exemption Log that has been provided to you. NOTE: Pop-up Blockers on your web browser will need to be disabled to download files from this site. You will receive the next installment on or before November 10, 2022 and will continue to receive installments until your request has been fulfilled. Should you no longer need this information, please contact our office by responding directly to this email. Sincerely, Lori Membreno FRA2 Washington State Department of Health
Health Systems Quality Assurance
Public Records Unit
From: Washington State Department Of Health
--- Please respond above this line ---
It was Installment 3.
From: Washington State Department Of Health
--- Please respond above this line ---
Reference # D000634-011122 Dear Natalie St. John, The Department of Health received a public records request from you on January 11, 2022. You requested the following: "To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Washington Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:
All internal and external communications that include any the phrases "forced tapering" or "forced taper", or "cold turkey" AND one or more of the following words or phrases: "painkillers", "analgesics" "opioid analgesics", "opioids", "opioid", "Oxy", "Oxycontin", "methadone", "Morphine", "ms contin", "painkiller(s)", "pain pill", and/or "pain medicine" or "pain medication".
I seek communications that were sent or received between January 1, 2010 and January 10, 2022. I am specifically interested in communications that pertain to complaints, discussion of, and concerns about swift reductions of opioid pain medications. You may exclude any communications that are clearly not related to opioid prescribing practices. Additionally, to avoid the labor-intensive and time-consuming process of redacting HIPAA information, you may exclude letters from patients /pain sufferers whose communications contain HIPAA information. I expect that the remaining responsive communications will include letters from physicians and other healthcare practitioners, as a well as communications to, from and between DOH staff. In all likelihood, these parties will not have included HIPAA information in their communications, so limiting the response in this way should eliminate the need for any comprehensive redaction. Please feel welcome to call me to discuss if you have questions or concerns.
Please be sure to include attachments to emails. If you anticipate a large response or will require an extended response time, I would greatly appreciate installments of responsive documents.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or thumb-drive if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 5 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Natalie St. John
Upload documents directly: https://www.muckrock.com/ Your request requires collecting, copying and reviewing a large number of records. Completed documents will be provided to you in installments of approximately 250 pages. We have located and assembled records responsive to your request for installment five, copies of which are now available to you. These records have been uploaded to the DOH Public Records Center. You will need to log into your portal account to access your requested records. The Public Records Act (PRA) states in RCW 42.56.120(4), a requestor has an obligation to claim or review records. Per this citation, if an installment of a records request is not claimed or reviewed the agency is not obligated to fulfill the balance of the request and the agency may close the request and refile the records.
Additionally, the PRA Model Rule states in WAC 44-14-040(10) (https://u8387778.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=6HtRfOYLt5fXvpttM-2FU1HUYYqitU-2BUCRIISWfqWZgqnfIIuZfi9NBuI0VBd-2B4-2BpMey54dIixE59WQtPpAOujrg-3D-3DJRVz_U2rJUL9pIifNenUJ8zKcUBiMdvgcEk063tOtIZ90RsPWQoNUZwsfyQtmeWI-2B0h7rChi1Wt-2FMlALE1L1oQxuG-2B7LrFhvHS9TqB5jY52aN2-2FYmHg5PFGfsIqs0qV7sMRoFes8e4QxiKkG-2FRfg3-2FJuoEMfzYS-2B6QFxIdC50LI5XCLdLFXtnLWaveD1UYSFWGJdMQk2iZpuoSCpAM7UaIoXqoYx6QNQI4Lxaw7sAQFgDe9n662FvHI-2FX4myi6erEtYnV) , " If, within thirty days, the requestor fails to inspect the entire set of records or one or more of the installments, the public records officer or designee may stop searching for the remaining records and close the request. Some information within your requested records may have been withheld. If only a portion of information was withheld, please see the Redaction Summary Log located at the end of your records for a list of redactions applied to the records. If any records were withheld in their entirety, please refer to the Exemption Log that has been provided to you. NOTE: Pop-up Blockers on your web browser will need to be disabled to download files from this site. You will receive the next installment on or before December 19, 2022 and will continue to receive installments until your request has been fulfilled or closed. Should you no longer need this information, please contact our office by responding directly to this email. Sincerely, Lori Membreno, FRA3 Washington State Department of Health
Health Systems Quality Assurance
Public Records Unit
From: Natalie St. John
Hello,
Thank you for your hard work on my request. I saw the email saying you will not fulfill the request if I do not log into the portal. to retrieve records. To tell you the truth, I don't even know how to log into it, because I have been able to download the installments directly from Muckrock. So, I have not needed to log into the portal to retrieve them, but I am definitely downloading and reading the records you send, so please do continue!
THank you,
Natalie St. John
From: Washington State Department Of Health
--- Please respond above this line ---
Reference # D000634-011122 Dear Natalie St. John, The Department of Health received a public records request from you on January 11, 2022. You requested the following: "To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Washington Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:
All internal and external communications that include any the phrases "forced tapering" or "forced taper", or "cold turkey" AND one or more of the following words or phrases: "painkillers", "analgesics" "opioid analgesics", "opioids", "opioid", "Oxy", "Oxycontin", "methadone", "Morphine", "ms contin", "painkiller(s)", "pain pill", and/or "pain medicine" or "pain medication".
I seek communications that were sent or received between January 1, 2010 and January 10, 2022. I am specifically interested in communications that pertain to complaints, discussion of, and concerns about swift reductions of opioid pain medications. You may exclude any communications that are clearly not related to opioid prescribing practices. Additionally, to avoid the labor-intensive and time-consuming process of redacting HIPAA information, you may exclude letters from patients /pain sufferers whose communications contain HIPAA information. I expect that the remaining responsive communications will include letters from physicians and other healthcare practitioners, as a well as communications to, from and between DOH staff. In all likelihood, these parties will not have included HIPAA information in their communications, so limiting the response in this way should eliminate the need for any comprehensive redaction. Please feel welcome to call me to discuss if you have questions or concerns.
Please be sure to include attachments to emails. If you anticipate a large response or will require an extended response time, I would greatly appreciate installments of responsive documents.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or thumb-drive if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 5 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Natalie St. John
Upload documents directly: https://www.muckrock.com/ Your request requires collecting, copying and reviewing a large number of records. Completed documents will be provided to you in installments of approximately 250 pages. We have located and assembled records responsive to your request for installment six, copies of which are now available to you. These records have been uploaded to the DOH Public Records Center. You will need to log into your portal account to access your requested records. The Public Records Act (PRA) states in RCW 42.56.120(4), a requestor has an obligation to claim or review records. Per this citation, if an installment of a records request is not claimed or reviewed the agency is not obligated to fulfill the balance of the request and the agency may close the request and refile the records.
Additionally, the PRA Model Rule states in WAC 44-14-040(10) , " If, within thirty days, the requestor fails to inspect the entire set of records or one or more of the installments, the public records officer or designee may stop searching for the remaining records and close the request. Some information within your requested records may have been withheld. If only a portion of information was withheld, please see the Redaction Summary Log located at the end of your records for a list of redactions applied to the records. If any records were withheld in their entirety, please refer to the Exemption Log that has been provided to you. NOTE: Pop-up Blockers on your web browser will need to be disabled to download files from this site. You will receive the next installment on or before January 27, 2023 and will continue to receive installments until your request has been fulfilled or closed. Should you no longer need this information, please contact our office by responding directly to this email. Sincerely, Lori Membreno, FRA3 Washington State Department of Health
Health Systems Quality Assurance
Public Records Unit
From: Washington State Department Of Health
--- Please respond above this line ---
Reference # D000634-011122 Dear Natalie St. John, The Department of Health received a public records request from you on January 11, 2022. You requested the following: "To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Washington Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:
All internal and external communications that include any the phrases "forced tapering" or "forced taper", or "cold turkey" AND one or more of the following words or phrases: "painkillers", "analgesics" "opioid analgesics", "opioids", "opioid", "Oxy", "Oxycontin", "methadone", "Morphine", "ms contin", "painkiller(s)", "pain pill", and/or "pain medicine" or "pain medication".
I seek communications that were sent or received between January 1, 2010 and January 10, 2022. I am specifically interested in communications that pertain to complaints, discussion of, and concerns about swift reductions of opioid pain medications. You may exclude any communications that are clearly not related to opioid prescribing practices. Additionally, to avoid the labor-intensive and time-consuming process of redacting HIPAA information, you may exclude letters from patients /pain sufferers whose communications contain HIPAA information. I expect that the remaining responsive communications will include letters from physicians and other healthcare practitioners, as a well as communications to, from and between DOH staff. In all likelihood, these parties will not have included HIPAA information in their communications, so limiting the response in this way should eliminate the need for any comprehensive redaction. Please feel welcome to call me to discuss if you have questions or concerns.
Please be sure to include attachments to emails. If you anticipate a large response or will require an extended response time, I would greatly appreciate installments of responsive documents.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or thumb-drive if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 5 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Natalie St. John
Upload documents directly: https://www.muckrock.com/ Your request requires collecting, copying and reviewing a large number of records. Completed documents will be provided to you in installments of approximately 250 pages. We have located and assembled records responsive to your request for installment 7, copies of which are now available to you. These records have been uploaded to the DOH Public Records Center. You will need to log into your portal account to access your requested records. The Public Records Act (PRA) states in RCW 42.56.120(4), a requestor has an obligation to claim or review records. Per this citation, if an installment of a records request is not claimed or reviewed the agency is not obligated to fulfill the balance of the request and the agency may close the request and refile the records.
Additionally, the PRA Model Rule states in WAC 44-14-040(10) , " If, within thirty days, the requestor fails to inspect the entire set of records or one or more of the installments, the public records officer or designee may stop searching for the remaining records and close the request. Some information within your requested records may have been withheld. If only a portion of information was withheld, please see the Redaction Summary Log located at the end of your records for a list of redactions applied to the records. If any records were withheld in their entirety, please refer to the Exemption Log that has been provided to you. NOTE: Pop-up Blockers on your web browser will need to be disabled to download files from this site. You will receive the next installment on or before March 13, 2023 and will continue to receive installments until your request has been fulfilled or closed. Should you no longer need this information, please contact our office by responding directly to this email. Sincerely, Lori Membreno, FRA3 Washington State Department of Health
Health Systems Quality Assurance
Public Records Unit
From: Washington State Department Of Health
--- Please respond above this line ---
Reference # D000634-011122 Dear Natalie St. John, The Department of Health received a public records request from you on January 11, 2022. You requested the following: "To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Washington Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:
All internal and external communications that include any the phrases "forced tapering" or "forced taper", or "cold turkey" AND one or more of the following words or phrases: "painkillers", "analgesics" "opioid analgesics", "opioids", "opioid", "Oxy", "Oxycontin", "methadone", "Morphine", "ms contin", "painkiller(s)", "pain pill", and/or "pain medicine" or "pain medication".
I seek communications that were sent or received between January 1, 2010 and January 10, 2022. I am specifically interested in communications that pertain to complaints, discussion of, and concerns about swift reductions of opioid pain medications. You may exclude any communications that are clearly not related to opioid prescribing practices. Additionally, to avoid the labor-intensive and time-consuming process of redacting HIPAA information, you may exclude letters from patients /pain sufferers whose communications contain HIPAA information. I expect that the remaining responsive communications will include letters from physicians and other healthcare practitioners, as a well as communications to, from and between DOH staff. In all likelihood, these parties will not have included HIPAA information in their communications, so limiting the response in this way should eliminate the need for any comprehensive redaction. Please feel welcome to call me to discuss if you have questions or concerns.
Please be sure to include attachments to emails. If you anticipate a large response or will require an extended response time, I would greatly appreciate installments of responsive documents.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or thumb-drive if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 5 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Natalie St. John
Upload documents directly: https://www.muckrock.com/ Your request requires collecting, copying and reviewing a large number of records. Completed documents will be provided to you in installments of approximately 250 pages. We have located and assembled records responsive to your request for installment eight, copies of which are now available to you. These records have been uploaded to the DOH Public Records Center. You will need to log into your portal account to access your requested records. The Public Records Act (PRA) states in RCW 42.56.120(4), a requestor has an obligation to claim or review records. Per this citation, if an installment of a records request is not claimed or reviewed the agency is not obligated to fulfill the balance of the request and the agency may close the request and refile the records.
Additionally, the PRA Model Rule states in WAC 44-14-040(10) , " If, within thirty days, the requestor fails to inspect the entire set of records or one or more of the installments, the public records officer or designee may stop searching for the remaining records and close the request. Some information within your requested records may have been withheld. If only a portion of information was withheld, please see the Redaction Summary Log located at the end of your records for a list of redactions applied to the records. If any records were withheld in their entirety, please refer to the Exemption Log that has been provided to you. NOTE: Pop-up Blockers on your web browser will need to be disabled to download files from this site. You will receive the next installment on or before April 27, 2023 and will continue to receive installments until your request has been fulfilled or closed. Should you no longer need this information, please contact our office by responding directly to this email. Sincerely, Lori Membreno, FRA3 Washington State Department of Health
Health Systems Quality Assurance Public Records Unit
From: Washington State Department Of Health
--- Please respond above this line ---
Reference # D000634-011122 Dear Natalie St. John, The Department of Health received a public records request from you on January 11, 2022. You requested the following: "To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Washington Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:
All internal and external communications that include any the phrases "forced tapering" or "forced taper", or "cold turkey" AND one or more of the following words or phrases: "painkillers", "analgesics" "opioid analgesics", "opioids", "opioid", "Oxy", "Oxycontin", "methadone", "Morphine", "ms contin", "painkiller(s)", "pain pill", and/or "pain medicine" or "pain medication".
I seek communications that were sent or received between January 1, 2010 and January 10, 2022. I am specifically interested in communications that pertain to complaints, discussion of, and concerns about swift reductions of opioid pain medications. You may exclude any communications that are clearly not related to opioid prescribing practices. Additionally, to avoid the labor-intensive and time-consuming process of redacting HIPAA information, you may exclude letters from patients /pain sufferers whose communications contain HIPAA information. I expect that the remaining responsive communications will include letters from physicians and other healthcare practitioners, as a well as communications to, from and between DOH staff. In all likelihood, these parties will not have included HIPAA information in their communications, so limiting the response in this way should eliminate the need for any comprehensive redaction. Please feel welcome to call me to discuss if you have questions or concerns.
Please be sure to include attachments to emails. If you anticipate a large response or will require an extended response time, I would greatly appreciate installments of responsive documents.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or thumb-drive if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 5 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Natalie St. John
Upload documents directly: https://www.muckrock.com/ Your request requires collecting, copying and reviewing a large number of records. Completed documents will be provided to you in installments of approximately 250 pages. We have located and assembled records responsive to your request for installment 9, copies of which are now available to you. These records have been uploaded to the DOH Public Records Center. You will need to log into your portal account to access your requested records. The Public Records Act (PRA) states in RCW 42.56.120(4), a requestor has an obligation to claim or review records. Per this citation, if an installment of a records request is not claimed or reviewed the agency is not obligated to fulfill the balance of the request and the agency may close the request and refile the records.
Additionally, the PRA Model Rule states in WAC 44-14-040(10) , " If, within thirty days, the requestor fails to inspect the entire set of records or one or more of the installments, the public records officer or designee may stop searching for the remaining records and close the request. Some information within your requested records may have been withheld. If only a portion of information was withheld, please see the Redaction Summary Log located at the end of your records for a list of redactions applied to the records. If any records were withheld in their entirety, please refer to the Exemption Log that has been provided to you. NOTE: Pop-up Blockers on your web browser will need to be disabled to download files from this site. You will receive the next installment on or before June 09, 2023 and will continue to receive installments until your request has been fulfilled or closed. Should you no longer need this information, please contact our office by responding directly to this email. Sincerely, Lori Membreno, FRA3 Washington State Department of Health
Health Systems Quality Assurance
Public Records Unit
From: Washington State Department Of Health
--- Please respond above this line ---
Reference # D000634-011122 Dear Natalie St. John, The Department of Health received a public records request from you on January 11, 2022. You requested the following: "To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Washington Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:
All internal and external communications that include any the phrases "forced tapering" or "forced taper", or "cold turkey" AND one or more of the following words or phrases: "painkillers", "analgesics" "opioid analgesics", "opioids", "opioid", "Oxy", "Oxycontin", "methadone", "Morphine", "ms contin", "painkiller(s)", "pain pill", and/or "pain medicine" or "pain medication".
I seek communications that were sent or received between January 1, 2010 and January 10, 2022. I am specifically interested in communications that pertain to complaints, discussion of, and concerns about swift reductions of opioid pain medications. You may exclude any communications that are clearly not related to opioid prescribing practices. Additionally, to avoid the labor-intensive and time-consuming process of redacting HIPAA information, you may exclude letters from patients /pain sufferers whose communications contain HIPAA information. I expect that the remaining responsive communications will include letters from physicians and other healthcare practitioners, as a well as communications to, from and between DOH staff. In all likelihood, these parties will not have included HIPAA information in their communications, so limiting the response in this way should eliminate the need for any comprehensive redaction. Please feel welcome to call me to discuss if you have questions or concerns.
Please be sure to include attachments to emails. If you anticipate a large response or will require an extended response time, I would greatly appreciate installments of responsive documents.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or thumb-drive if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 5 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Natalie St. John
Upload documents directly: https://www.muckrock.com/ Your request requires collecting, copying and reviewing a large number of records. Completed documents will be provided to you in installments of approximately 250 pages. We have located and assembled records responsive to your request for installment ten, copies of which are now available to you. These records have been uploaded to the DOH Public Records Center. You will need to log into your portal account to access your requested records. The Public Records Act (PRA) states in RCW 42.56.120(4), a requestor has an obligation to claim or review records. Per this citation, if an installment of a records request is not claimed or reviewed the agency is not obligated to fulfill the balance of the request and the agency may close the request and refile the records.
Additionally, the PRA Model Rule states in WAC 44-14-040(10) , " If, within thirty days, the requestor fails to inspect the entire set of records or one or more of the installments, the public records officer or designee may stop searching for the remaining records and close the request. Some information within your requested records may have been withheld. If only a portion of information was withheld, please see the Redaction Summary Log located at the end of your records for a list of redactions applied to the records. If any records were withheld in their entirety, please refer to the Exemption Log that has been provided to you. NOTE: Pop-up Blockers on your web browser will need to be disabled to download files from this site. You will receive the next installment on or before July 24, 2023 and will continue to receive installments until your request has been fulfilled or closed. Should you no longer need this information, please contact our office by responding directly to this email. Sincerely, Lori Membreno, FRA3
Health Systems Quality Assurance Washington State Department of Health
Public Records Unit
From: Washington State Department Of Health
--- Please respond above this line ---
Reference # D000634-011122 Dear Natalie St. John, The Department of Health received a public records request from you on January 11, 2022. You requested the following: "To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Washington Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:
All internal and external communications that include any the phrases "forced tapering" or "forced taper", or "cold turkey" AND one or more of the following words or phrases: "painkillers", "analgesics" "opioid analgesics", "opioids", "opioid", "Oxy", "Oxycontin", "methadone", "Morphine", "ms contin", "painkiller(s)", "pain pill", and/or "pain medicine" or "pain medication".
I seek communications that were sent or received between January 1, 2010 and January 10, 2022. I am specifically interested in communications that pertain to complaints, discussion of, and concerns about swift reductions of opioid pain medications. You may exclude any communications that are clearly not related to opioid prescribing practices. Additionally, to avoid the labor-intensive and time-consuming process of redacting HIPAA information, you may exclude letters from patients /pain sufferers whose communications contain HIPAA information. I expect that the remaining responsive communications will include letters from physicians and other healthcare practitioners, as a well as communications to, from and between DOH staff. In all likelihood, these parties will not have included HIPAA information in their communications, so limiting the response in this way should eliminate the need for any comprehensive redaction. Please feel welcome to call me to discuss if you have questions or concerns.
Please be sure to include attachments to emails. If you anticipate a large response or will require an extended response time, I would greatly appreciate installments of responsive documents.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or thumb-drive if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 5 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Natalie St. John
Your request requires collecting, copying and reviewing a large number of records. Completed documents will be provided to you in installments. We have located and assembled records responsive to your request for installment eleven, copies of which are now available to you. These records have been uploaded to the DOH Public Records Center. You will need to log into your portal account to access your requested records. The Public Records Act (PRA) states in RCW 42.56.120(4), a requestor has an obligation to claim or review records. Per this citation, if an installment of a records request is not claimed or reviewed the agency is not obligated to fulfill the balance of the request and the agency may close the request and refile the records.
Additionally, the PRA Model Rule states in WAC 44-14-040(10) , " If, within thirty days, the requestor fails to inspect the entire set of records or one or more of the installments, the public records officer or designee may stop searching for the remaining records and close the request. Some information within your requested records may have been withheld. If only a portion of information was withheld, please see the Redaction Summary Log located at the end of your records for a list of redactions applied to the records. If any records were withheld in their entirety, please refer to the Exemption Log that has been provided to you. NOTE: Pop-up Blockers on your web browser will need to be disabled to download files from this site. You will receive the next installment on or before September 07, 2023 and will continue to receive installments until your request has been fulfilled or closed. Should you no longer need this information, please contact our office by responding directly to this email. Sincerely, Lori Membreno, FRA3 Washington State Department of Health
Health Systems Quality Assurance
Public Records Unit
From: Washington State Department Of Health
--- Please respond above this line ---
Reference # D000634-011122
Dear Natalie St. John,
On January 11, 2022, the Department of Health received your public records request for the following records:
“To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Washington Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:
All internal and external communications that include any the phrases "forced tapering" or "forced taper", or "cold turkey" AND one or more of the following words or phrases: "painkillers", "analgesics" "opioid analgesics", "opioids", "opioid", "Oxy", "Oxycontin", "methadone", "Morphine", "ms contin", "painkiller(s)", "pain pill", and/or "pain medicine" or "pain medication".
I seek communications that were sent or received between January 1, 2010 and January 10, 2022. I am specifically interested in communications that pertain to complaints, discussion of, and concerns about swift reductions of opioid pain medications. You may exclude any communications that are clearly not related to opioid prescribing practices. Additionally, to avoid the labor-intensive and time-consuming process of redacting HIPAA information, you may exclude letters from patients /pain sufferers whose communications contain HIPAA information. I expect that the remaining responsive communications will include letters from physicians and other healthcare practitioners, as a well as communications to, from and between DOH staff. In all likelihood, these parties will not have included HIPAA information in their communications, so limiting the response in this way should eliminate the need for any comprehensive redaction. Please feel welcome to call me to discuss if you have questions or concerns.
Please be sure to include attachments to emails. If you anticipate a large response or will require an extended response time, I would greatly appreciate installments of responsive documents.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or thumb-drive if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 5 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Natalie St. John
Upload documents directly: https://www.muckrock.com/
We originally indicated that we would provide responsive records by 09/07/2023; however, additional time is required to process your public records request. We estimate with this additional time that we will be able to locate, assemble, review f or exemptions, and provide records responsive to your request on or before 10/6/2023.
Please consider this notification an extension of the due date to 10/6/2023.
If you have any questions regarding this request, please feel free to respond directly to this email.
Sincerely,
Health Systems Quality Assurance
Public Records
From: Washington State Department Of Health
--- Please respond above this line ---
Reference # D000634-011122 Dear Natalie St. John, The Department of Health received a public records request from you on January 11, 2022. You requested the following: "To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Washington Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:
All internal and external communications that include any the phrases "forced tapering" or "forced taper", or "cold turkey" AND one or more of the following words or phrases: "painkillers", "analgesics" "opioid analgesics", "opioids", "opioid", "Oxy", "Oxycontin", "methadone", "Morphine", "ms contin", "painkiller(s)", "pain pill", and/or "pain medicine" or "pain medication".
I seek communications that were sent or received between January 1, 2010 and January 10, 2022. I am specifically interested in communications that pertain to complaints, discussion of, and concerns about swift reductions of opioid pain medications. You may exclude any communications that are clearly not related to opioid prescribing practices. Additionally, to avoid the labor-intensive and time-consuming process of redacting HIPAA information, you may exclude letters from patients /pain sufferers whose communications contain HIPAA information. I expect that the remaining responsive communications will include letters from physicians and other healthcare practitioners, as a well as communications to, from and between DOH staff. In all likelihood, these parties will not have included HIPAA information in their communications, so limiting the response in this way should eliminate the need for any comprehensive redaction. Please feel welcome to call me to discuss if you have questions or concerns.
Please be sure to include attachments to emails. If you anticipate a large response or will require an extended response time, I would greatly appreciate installments of responsive documents....
Upload documents directly: https://www.muckrock.com/ Your request requires collecting, copying and reviewing a large number of records. Completed documents will be provided to you in installments. We have located and assembled records responsive to your request for installment # twelve, copies of which are now available to you. These records have been uploaded to the DOH Public Records Center. You will need to log into your portal account to access your requested records. The Public Records Act (PRA) states in RCW 42.56.120(4), a requestor has an obligation to claim or review records. Per this citation, if an installment of a records request is not claimed or reviewed the agency is not obligated to fulfill the balance of the request and the agency may close the request and refile the records.
Additionally, the PRA Model Rule states in WAC 44-14-040(10) , " If, within thirty days, the requestor fails to inspect the entire set of records or one or more of the installments, the public records officer or designee may stop searching for the remaining records and close the request. Some information within your requested records may have been withheld. If only a portion of information was withheld, please see the Redaction Summary Log located at the end of your records for a list of redactions applied to the records. If any records were withheld in their entirety, please refer to the Exemption Log that has been provided to you. NOTE: Pop-up Blockers on your web browser will need to be disabled to download files from this site. You will receive the next installment on or before November 06, 2023 and will continue to receive installments until your request has been fulfilled or closed. Should you no longer need this information, please contact our office by responding directly to this email. Sincerely, Lori Membreno, FRA3 Washington State Department of Health
Health Systems Quality Assurance
Public Records Request
From: Washington State Department Of Health
--- Please respond above this line ---
Reference # D000634-011122 (https://u8387778.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=6HtRfOYLt5fXvpttM-2FU1HYC8FIhQn-2FRY527N9FppI-2FREonaJ02k0bqj59oVmfy9tQmGg3nn07nGo-2BO54FXe54J59u-2FUvVEGFBEuUdq1S3ktkP17J6S2XSpoXkqscjjD0el9F_U2rJUL9pIifNenUJ8zKcUBiMdvgcEk063tOtIZ90RsPWQoNUZwsfyQtmeWI-2B0h7r7thH2boJZHbxoBMcwe710qkNO46OGCalwUv7i9ztfiyv8o-2FF-2BvFlfyCLa9CSGmzKk-2BBqrPn4m6A1CAYy3tys-2Bt4qQEpC49nvb0yfGcgNZFYUBrxXbCltxrlUP-2BckzFVjON85y3IXUHzOx7ACGzTz2ToRsueNkirV5bsyc3sORtckYViuoLG-2F4uwtzNO5qlAnJ3jK4E7UzF8gP89Uy1Ds94qI3CsmrrGYOCpHrROKbKa5cbNcc7er9JBJSsWVde61b-2FyDHU9EW9iuDlQygwRYcZFflcHOPA3DmOu-2BIJOs0ubcDck14BJWmSw1aTyVesE17UtgA-2Fr8lAYGQDnt0xEt2w-3D-3D) Dear Natalie St. John, The Department of Health received a public records request from you on January 11, 2022. You requested the following: "To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Washington Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:
All internal and external communications that include any the phrases "forced tapering" or "forced taper", or "cold turkey" AND one or more of the following words or phrases: "painkillers", "analgesics" "opioid analgesics", "opioids", "opioid", "Oxy", "Oxycontin", "methadone", "Morphine", "ms contin", "painkiller(s)", "pain pill", and/or "pain medicine" or "pain medication".
I seek communications that were sent or received between January 1, 2010 and January 10, 2022. I am specifically interested in communications that pertain to complaints, discussion of, and concerns about swift reductions of opioid pain medications. You may exclude any communications that are clearly not related to opioid prescribing practices. Additionally, to avoid the labor-intensive and time-consuming process of redacting HIPAA information, you may exclude letters from patients /pain sufferers whose communications contain HIPAA information. I expect that the remaining responsive communications will include letters from physicians and other healthcare practitioners, as a well as communications to, from and between DOH staff. In all likelihood, these parties will not have included HIPAA information in their communications, so limiting the response in this way should eliminate the need for any comprehensive redaction. Please feel welcome to call me to discuss if you have questions or concerns.
Please be sure to include attachments to emails. If you anticipate a large response or will require an extended response time, I would greatly appreciate installments of responsive documents.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or thumb-drive if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 5 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Natalie St. John
Upload documents directly: https://www.muckrock.com/ Your request requires collecting, copying and reviewing a large number of records. Completed documents will be provided to you in installments. We have located and assembled records responsive to your request for installment #13, copies of which are now available to you. These records have been uploaded to the DOH Public Records Center. You will need to log into your portal account to access your requested records. The Public Records Act (PRA) states in RCW 42.56.120(4), a requestor has an obligation to claim or review records. Per this citation, if an installment of a records request is not claimed or reviewed the agency is not obligated to fulfill the balance of the request and the agency may close the request and refile the records.
If, within ten business days of this communication, 11/21/2023 7:02:55 AM, the requestor fails to inspect the entire set of records or one or more of the installments, the public records officer or designee may stop searching for the remaining records and close the request. If the request is closed, you will be required to submit a new request and your request will be added to the current queue. Some information within your requested records may have been withheld. If only a portion of information was withheld, please see the Redaction Summary Log located at the end of your records for a list of redactions applied to the records. If any records were withheld in their entirety, please refer to the Exemption Log that has been provided to you. NOTE: Pop-up Blockers on your web browser will need to be disabled to download files from this site. You will receive the next installment on or before December 21, 2023 and will continue to receive installments until your request has been fulfilled or closed. Should you no longer need this information, please contact our office by responding directly to this email. Sincerely, LORI MEMBRENO Washington State Department of Health Public Disclosure Office
From: Muckrock Staff
Hello,
We're currently unable to access the DOH records center - we're running into an error message that says we've exceeded our maximum login attempts, even after a password reset.
Please advise, and thank you for your help with this request.
From: Washington State Department Of Health
Hello Natalie St. John,
You have responded to an unresponsive email.
Please be advised that if you wish to submit a public records request, update an existing request, or check the status of an already submitted request, you should visit the Public Records Center.
Thank you
This is an auto-generated email and has originated from an unmonitored email account. Please DO NOT REPLY.
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