Understanding Opioids
Every day, more than 115 Americans die after overdosing on opioids. The
misuse of and addiction to opioids—including prescription pain relievers,
heroin, and synthetic opioids such as fentanyl—is a serious national
crisis that affects public health as well as social and economic welfare.
In 2017, Confluence Health embarked on a journey committed to reducing
these statics in our region.
1. The Challenge
- To address the prescription drug abuse epidemic
- 2.4 million Americans have severe opioid use disorder
- Overdose deaths from prescription drugs have outpaced mortality from motor vehicle accidents since 2013
- In 2016, life expectancy of middle aged men dropped due to opioid addiction and overdose
- Average annual deaths associated with opioid use in the Confluence Health service area:17.6
2. The Goal
- Develop a comprehensive and coordinated program to address the prescription drug abuse epidemic
- Develop an acute prescription pain algorithm with the goal of reducing the quantity of medications prescribed
- Develop a chronic opioid algorithm with the goal of reducing the total morphine equivalents per day (MED) from 120 mg to 80 mg
- Develop a drug diversion committee that coordinates the organizational approach to managing drug diversion
3. Community Impact: Standard Approach to Opioid Management
Appropriate Prescribing:
- Reduce overall quantities of prescription pain medications being prescribed
Diversion Prevention:
- Appropriate processes to prevent diversion of prescription medications
- Diversion Response Team
- Diversion oversite committee
Education:
- Reset patient expectations regarding pain control (acute and chronic)
- Reset provider expectations regarding pain management
- Improve staff ability to assess prescription pain medication refill requests
