An Effective Intervention: Limiting Opioid Prescribing as a Means of Reducing Opioid Analgesic Misuse, and Overdose Deaths

Abstract

<jats:p> Overdose deaths involving prescription opioids killed more than 17,000 Americans in 2017, marking a five-fold increase since 1999. High prescribing rates of opioid analgesics have been a substantial contributor to prescription opioid misuse, dependence, overdose and heroin use. There was recognition approximately ten years ago that opioid prescribing patterns were contributing to this startling increase in negative opioid-related outcomes, and federal actions, including Medicare reimbursement reform and regulatory actions, were initiated to restrict opioid prescribing. The current manuscript is a description of those actions, the effect of those actions on opioid prescribing and related patient outcomes. We also describe our proposal of methods of expanding these efforts as an important piece to further reduce opioid-related misuse, dependence, and overdose death. </jats:p>

A High-Throughput Ion Mobility Spectrometry–Mass Spectrometry Screening Method for Opioid Profiling

“…Furthermore, at least 65,000 people died from drug overdoses in 2016, with 66% of those overdoses attributed to opioid use . As a result, in 2017 the United States Department of Health and Human Services declared opioid abuse a public health crisis as noted by the misuse and abuse of both licit and illicit opioids. ,− The declaration of this public health crisis has served as a major impetus for opioid prescription reform, particularly in the management of both acute and chronic pain. ,,,− While these efforts have resulted in a significant decline in opioid prescriptions since 2017, opioids are still used in pain management programs. Thus, the ability to continually monitor their therapeutic use in a clinical setting is vital for ensuring proper usage and mitigating the possibility of developing opioid dependency.…”

Changes in Prescribing by Provider Type Following a State Prescription Opioid Restriction Law

“…16 Our findings expand on the previous research analyzing the effects of opioid-prescribing limitation laws that assessed either provider types in aggregate or by individual provider types. 6,9,10,13,16,19,[30][31][32][33] To our knowledge, our study was the first to evaluate the impacts of an opioid-prescribing restriction policy across multiple provider types. Additionally, we utilized interrupted time series models, which allowed for the evaluation of pre-and post-policy trends which are not captured in simple pre-/post-analyses.…”

Out of pocket expenses: effect of fee-waivers on opioid prescribing and dispensing

“…However, changes in the way these expenses are handled clearly have an influence on dispensing. These policy changes therefore may unwittingly endanger vulnerable groups, as unnecessary opioid exposure should be minimized at all times (Fink, Uyttebrouck, & Larson, 2020). The system of real-time tracking of out-of-pocket payments should be re-evaluated urgently to limit the availability of prescription opioids, especially in the absence of stringent control systems preventing doctor shopping (De Mooter, Maebe, Willems, Lys, & Hans, 2019).…”