Adverse Economic Impact of Opioid Abuse

Attached a link to an article titled "Pain Pills Add Cost and Delays to Job Injuries" highlighting the adverse economic impact of narcotic pain prescriptions. According to the article workmans compensation insurance carriers spend an estimated $1.4 billion annually on narcotic painkillers, or opioids. But they are also finding that the medications, if used too early in treatment, too frequently or for too long, can drive up associated disability payouts and medical expenses by delaying an employee’s return to work. Workers who received high doses of opioid painkillers to treat injuries like back strain stayed out of work three times longer than those with similar injuries who took lower doses, a 2008 study of claims by the California Workers Compensation Institute found. When medical care and disability payments are combined, the cost of a workplace injury is nine times higher when a strong narcotic like OxyContin is used than when a narcotic is not used, according to a 2010 analysis by Accident Fund Holdings, an insurer that operates in 18 states.Between 2001 and 2008, narcotics prescriptions as a share of all drugs used to treat workplace injuries jumped 63 percent, according to insurance industry data. Costs have also soared. In California, for example, workplace insurers spent $252 million on opioids in 2010, a figure that represented about 30 percent of all prescription costs; in 2002, opioids accounted for 15 percent of drug expenditures. Nationwide, data suggests that a vast majority of narcotic drugs used to treat occupational injuries are prescribed by a tiny percentage of doctors who treat injured workers; in California, for example, that figure is just 3 percent. Also, the bulk of such prescriptions go to a relatively small percentage of injured workers, including those who might be addicted to the drugs or those who sell them, experts said. Whats the solution? We must adopt new pain treatment guidelines for doctors which include the emphasis on NON-narcotic pain treatment modalities. In New York, one proposal would require a doctor to refer a patient who is not improving to a pain specialist when an opioid dose exceeds a certain level,Washington State has already adopted such a policy. Furthermore, we need to financially incentivize doctors to apply alternative approaches like specialized psychotherapy or referring addicted workers to treatment facilities. I am interested in your responses. Yours Bernd