Strategies for Increasing Patient Safety with Opioids

In 2017, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services declared a public health emergency to address the opioid crisis.¹ But while increased awareness and better prescribing practices have helped, there is still cause for concern. In 2017, more than 47,000 Americans died of an opioid overdose and an estimated 1.7 million suffered from substance use disorders related to prescription opioids.² For the physician, scrutiny by law enforcement and regulatory agencies brings increased liability.

In this special report, the risk management experts at NORCAL Group offer recommendations supporting sound pain management principles to help mitigate these risks and improve patient safety.

The Tragic Toll of Opioid Abuse in America

Concerns

• While prescribing rates are declining,³ deaths involving opioids continues to increase.⁴

Challenges

• Careful prescribing and monitoring practices are essential to safely manage patients’ pain and increase defensibility in the event of a claim.

Best Practices

• Sound pain management and prescribing principles to help increase patient safety.

References

Special data request provided by MPL Association Data Sharing Project closed claims database. Copyright 2019, MPL Association. Referenced data indicated in the special report.

1. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. “What is the U.S. Opioid Epidemic?” Content last reviewed on September 4, 2019.

2. National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse. “Opioid Crisis.” Last updated January 2019.

3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “U.S. Prescribing Rate Maps.” Last reviewed: October 3, 2018.

4. Holly Hedegaard, et al. “Drug Overdose Deaths in the United States, 1999–2017.” NCHS Data Brief No. 329. National Center for Health Statistics. 2018. Last reviewed: November 29, 2018. (Statistics on age-adjusted drug overdose deaths are taken from or calculated using data from the data tables linked in the article.)