Opioid Treatment and Recovery Through a Safe Pain Management Program

Study Summary

Opioid prescription drug abuse has become a major public health concern in the United States with mortality rates from fatal overdoses reaching epidemic proportions. This opioid crisis coincides with national efforts to improve management of chronic non-cancer pain. The net result, however, has been ever-growing increases in medical expenditures related to prescription costs and increased healthcare service utilization among opioid abusers. Healthcare provider prescribing pattern, especially among non-pain management specialists such as primary care, is a major factor. Louisiana is a major contributor to the epidemic with the 7th highest opioid prescribing rates accompanied by a 12% increase in fatal overdoses. Providers are overdue for implementing safe opioid management strategies in primary care to combat the opioid crisis. Recent practice guidelines provide recommendations on what to do for safe prescribing of opioids, but they do not provide guidance on how to translate them into practice. Health systems must find ways to accelerate guideline adoption in primary care in the face of an overdose crisis. Research that examines a combination workflow- and provider-focused strategies are needed. Given the high prevalence of psychiatric disorders among patients with chronic non-cancer pain, care team expansion with integration of collaborative mental/behavioral health services may be the solution. Collaborative care can extend opioid management beyond standardized monitoring of risk factors for opioid misuse or abuse and set clear protocols for next steps in management. This study is aligned with the National Institute on Drug Abuse's interest in health systems research that examines approaches to screening, assessment, prevention, diagnosis and treatment for prescription drug abuse. It will examine the primary care practice redesign of managing chronic non-cancer pain within a large health system whose 40+ Accountable Care Network-affiliated, adult primary care cl

Primary Outcome

Participants' opioid medication orders were monitored for 12 months prior to and following entry into study (index event). This outcome represents the odds of having an average MEDD ≥ 50 mg in the pre-index and post-index periods for the collaborative care and usual care groups. Odds of an event is defined as the ratio of the probability that the event will happen (prescribed high dose opioid) to the probability that the event will not happen (not prescribed high dose opioid)

Interventions

• BEHAVIORAL Electronic medical recorded clinical decision support [EMR CDS]
• BEHAVIORAL Stepped opioid collaborative care model [CCM]