Opioids and Chronic Pain - lhatrustfunds.com€¦ · safety and employee accident prevention...
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Opioids and Chronic Painby: Mark Thomas, Vice President, Workers' Compensation Claims & Risk
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APRIL 2016
Workers' CompensationNewsletter and More
Chronic pain is the most debilitating condition in workers' compensation, as well as the mostcostly from a financial standpoint for employers and insurers. While chronic pain is notprecisely defined, it is generally regarded as pain that persists or progresses over a long periodof time, in contrast to acute pain that arises suddenly. Unlike acute pain, chronic pain persistsand is often resistant to medical treatment.
Nationally, opioid usage has garnered a considerable amount of attention, where it has beentermed "epidemic" by many government entities, medical providers and insurers. The problemof opioid abuse continues to grow to the point of being called a national public healththreat. The CDC estimates that opioids were involved in over 28,000 deaths in 2014, with therate of overdoses quadrupling since 2000. Drug overdoses in general are more numerous thatmotor vehicle crash deaths in the United States.
Determining and correcting where the problem lies is highly complex with no singular solution.However, there are numerous resources readily available to assist all involved in patient carewith information and recommendations.
The American Medical Association recently referenced a panel of experts which convened togive five recommendations for all physicians. The full article can be read here.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) published long awaited guidelines entitled "CDCGuidelines for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain". Among those guidelines, the CDC
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recommended limited opioid prescriptions for patients suffering shortterm, acute pain to threedays or less in most conditions, and says that more than seven days worth of opioid drugs "willrarely be needed". CDC Director Tom Frieden said in an interview to the Wall Street Journal "Ifyou're prescribing an opiate to a patient for the first time, that's a momentous decision that maychange that patient's life for the worse forever. So you've really got to think carefully beforedoing it." The full CDC guidelines can be found here.
The LHA Trust Fund Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM), MyMatrixx has subsequentlypublished a concise summary of key points from the CDC guidelines. That summary can befound here.
The LHA Trust Fund has also published a lengthy document, authored and contributed to by anumber of national physicians, centered around directly educating the patient on the dangersand side effects of opioid use for long term chronic pain. This document can be found here.Printed copies of this document are available to LHA Trust Fund members by contacting anyof the persons listed below.
Please contact any member of our Claims & Risk service team if should you need moreinformation or we can be of additional assistance to you in the management of your workplacesafety and employee accident prevention programs.
TRENDING NOW
Opioid Use Reduction Coincides with Puzzling Cholesterol Drug Increase
Workers comp professionals are likely celebrating a reported decrease in opioidutilization while simultaneously scratching their heads over a reported increasein the use of high blood cholesterol drugs...read more
Source: Business Insurance
How NPR and ProPublica Exposed America's Unequal Workers' Comp System
Investigation revealed that some states are opting out of the workers' compsystem and allowing employers to come up with their own plans. This reporterbegan assembling a massive database of actuarial changes that states weremaking to workers' comp law...read more
Source: Poynter
Here's What Happening to Drug Costs in Workers' Compensation
Overall pharmacy spending increased 2.2 percent for U.S. workers'compensation payers in 2015 due to higher drug prices, according to a report bybenefit manager Express Scripts. Opioids continue to be the costliest drugs forinjured workers although overall spending on opioids in workers' compensationcases was down due to lower utilization...read more
Source: Insurance Journal
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FEATURED SAFETY TRAINING VIDEO
Pain Management: A Pathway to Care (15 minutes)
Focusing on creating a team effort, this program will reinforce the psychological, psysiological andpathological attributes associated with brief, reoccuring or chronic pain sufferers. Committed to excellentand compassionate patient care, this program will benefit all patient care providers.
Quick Preview
A complete list of our online library of training videos can be viewed here.
All of our safety training videos are available at no cost to all LHA Trust Fund members. These videos can beaccessed on demand by any of your employees. To gain access to your employees, contact Angela Castonat 225.368.3802 or via email here.
YOUR SERVICE TEAM
Mark Thomas, CPCU, ARM, AISVice President, Workers' Compensation Claims & Risk
225.368.3840
Robert HilbornWorkers' Compensation Supervisor
225.368.3846
Alan DaigrepontSenior Claims Consultant
225.368.3848Glenn EiserlohSenior Risk Consultant
225.368.3821
Steve JohnsonSenior Risk Consultant
318.227.7204