Knowledge of Providers

Question 14 addressed qualifying conditions which found providers in Florida answered correctly with a mean percentage of 47.2% and a standard deviation of 0.1358. While it seemed that providers understood the qualifying conditions for MM authorization when examining their correct percentage, they did not understand the non-qualifying conditions for MM authorization when appreciating all the data.

Question 16 addressed specific legal inquires of providers in Florida. For question 16, the mean correct percentage was 52.3% with a standard deviation of 0.2388.

Question 17 asked about what MMTC’s were permitted to provide. For clarity, the Florida Statutes (2019) do not offer specific guidelines regarding what a MMTC employee can/cannot do but instead references the guidelines for opening/operating a MMTC. For question 17, the mean correct percentage was 66.3% with a standard deviation of 0.2388. Looking at the results of the percentage of knowledge questions (questions 14, 16 and 17) as a whole, the mean correct answers of Florida providers was 51.8% correct with a standard deviation of 0.1474.

Practices of Providers

A significant finding was when providers were asked if they had access to the MM authorization registry. Out of 521 providers, only 74 (13.2%) “yes”. Of that 74, only 20 said they have checked the MM Use Registry. This means that of all providers who took this survey, only 3.6% have accessed the MM Registry. It is important for providers to realize they have access to the MM Use Registry as some medications they are prescribed may have a synergistic effect with MM.

An additional significant finding was when providers were asked if they have ever taken a continuing education course on MM. Of the 483 respondents, only 153 (31.7%) said they had.

When 484  providers were asked about their familiarity with the Florida Statutes regarding MM, only 12.9% said they were very or extremely familiar with the statutes.

Attitudes of Providers

To assess the attitudes of providers in Florida, providers were asked about their agreement with 11 different statements and their responses (see PowerPoint or paper link). Additionally, an open-ended question (question 26) allowed providers to offer any additional information they wanted to express regarding MM. Of the completed surveys, 92 providers replied to this question in a manner regarding their beliefs, practices, knowledge, or attitude (other responses were “none”, “n/a”, etc.). More research being needed was addressed at a minimum of 18 times in the open-ended responses of the providers. Eight times by providers it was referenced that MM has been useful for patients control of pain and in some it was “a great alternative” to opiates.