America’s addiction to opioids has never been worse. It is estimated that 2.1 million people in the United States are suffering from substance abuse disorders related to prescription opioids, and the number of unintentional overdose deaths has more than quadrupled since 1999.
While doctors and pharmacies have been called upon to address this crisis, a number of insurance professionals believe the workers’ compensation industry has its own role to play.
After all, the use of opioids to treat work-related injuries has jumped 41% from 2003 to 2011, and has a direct and negative correlation with insurance costs as it often increases an employee’s time away from work.
Prescription drug abuse is particularly acute in the construction and manufacturing industries – two sectors in which workers are more likely to be injured and therefore rely on opioids.
Karen Olson, medical director for
Summit Holdings, says many addicts take advantage of their physicians to feed an established drug habit. Because workers’ compensation carriers are involved in covering treatment for employees, they are in a good position to alert employers about a potential habit.
In 2012, Summit began giving its clients a quarterly snapshot of any patients with a concerning daily morphine equivalent dose – specifically, anything more than 120mg.
“Every prescribing physician for an identified claim receives a notification outlining the total MED a patient is receiving,” Olson explained.
Those flagged cases are then reevaluated 90 days later by Summit’s pharmacy benefits manager, Express Scripts. That gives doctors, patients and the employer an idea of how effective Summit’s intervention is.
On average, those cases see a reduction of five to six prescription drugs during the 90-day period, Olson said.
“We’ve received positive feedback from our physicians and have seen a dramatically reduced number of potentially dangerous prescriptions for patients,” she said.
Olson also advocated taking the opportunity to review prescriptions with the physician in order to achieve a better outcome for patients.
