The results of a study conducted by the California Workers’ Compensation Institute (CWCI) of preliminary results of Utilization Review (UR) and Independent Medical Review (IMR) outcomes have been released. The study measured, among other key issues, changes in UR and IMR decisions after the January
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has ruled that a person on probation with a condition to remain drug-free may be put in jail after one positive drug test. This case has been watched closely by many who work with people struggling with substance use disorder,
Almost 50 percent of prime age men (ages 25 to 54) who are not in the labor force take some kind of pain medication every day, states a report by a Princeton economist on labor force participation (LFP) in the U.S. The LFP rate measures how
This week U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions proposed changes to U.S. drug manufacturing quotas as part of the Justice Department’s new initiatives to combat the opioid epidemic. In the last decade, more than 250,000 deaths were related to opioid overdose, according to the New York
Emergency department (ED) visits for suspected opioid overdoses increased 35 percent across 16 states from July 2016 to September 2017, according to a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In total, the CDC found more than 140,0000 suspected opioid overdose
In its budget proposal for 2019, the Trump administration has requested approximately $17 billion dollars to address the opioid epidemic. In general, the proposal allocates funding for new opioid-related resources for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), expands Medicaid reimbursement to include medication-assisted
Citing safety concerns about opioid exposure in children, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has mandated new labeling requirements for prescription cough and cold medicines that contain codeine or hydrocodone, limiting their indicated use to adults 18 years and older. The FDA is requiring
Borrowing a classic pharmaceutical sales technique, a group of doctors and pharmacists in California are catching medical providers between patients to talk about opioid prescribing habits, reports the Washington Post. This practice, known as “academic detailing,” a play on the pharma industry’s “pharmaceutical detailing,” is
The total economic cost of the opioid epidemic could be as high as $504 billion in 2015 alone, or about 2.8 percent of the national gross domestic product, according to a study just released by the White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA). This figure
A new study shows that almost two-thirds of individuals who died from an opioid overdose had a diagnosed chronic pain condition and about one-third had dual diagnoses of chronic pain and a mental illness. Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center reviewed over 13,000 opioid-related deaths
Why do some people require high dosages of opioids to manage their pain, while others only need low dosages, or even cope without? The answer depends on the person’s metabolism and the cause of the pain. A very small number of people have a rare
Prescribers of opioid medication are feeling the pressure as the nation debates ways to address the opioid epidemic. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) published a guideline for opioid prescribing practices in March 2016 to provide specific recommendations for the treatment of chronic pain, and