| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
| Catasys Newsletter |
| |
Newsletter Archives
|
| » July 2011 |
| » September 2010 |
| » March 2010 |
| Subscribe to receive the Catasys Newsletter today! |
| |
 |
| |
| January 2012 Articles |
| Costs of Opioid Abuse in an Insured Population |
| Opioid abusers, compared with nonabusers, had higher claims, greater inpatient and Rx utilization, and more comorbid conditions. Mean annual direct health care costs for opioid abusers were more than 8 times higher than for nonabusers ($15,884 versus $1,830, respectively). Hospital inpatient utilization was more than 12 times higher, accounting for $7,239 for opioid abusers versus only $310 for nonabusers. Mean drug costs for opioid abusers were more than 5 times higher than costs for nonabusers ($2,034 vs. $386, respectively). Abusers also had significantly higher prevalence rates for comorbidities, including nonopioid poisoning, hepatitis (A, B, or C), psychiatric illnesses and pancreatitis. |
| |
| Source: White, Alan G. et. al. Costs of Direct Costs of Opioid Abuse in an Insured Population in the United States Journal of Managed Care Pharmacy July/August 2005 Vol. 11, No. 6 pp. 469-479 |
| |
 |
|
|
| |
|
| |
| Substance Abuse Treatment Admissions Involving Abuse of Pain Relievers |
| The proportion of all substance abuse treatment admissions aged 12 or older that reported any pain reliever abuse increased more than fourfold between 1998 and 2008, from 2.2 to 9.8 percent. Increases in percentages of admissions reporting pain reliever abuse cut across age, gender, race/ethnicity, education, employment and region. Among admissions for which medication-assisted opioid therapy was planned, reports of pain reliever abuse more than tripled, from 6.8 percent in 1998 to 26.5 percent in 2008. |
| |
| Source: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Office of Applied Studies. (July 15, 2010). The TEDS Report: Substance Abuse Treatment Admissions Involving Abuse of Pain Relievers: 1998 and 2008. Rockville, MD. |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
Low Use of Opioid Risk Reduction Strategies in Primary Care Even for High Risk Patients with Chronic Pain
|
| Primary care physicians' adoption of opioid risk reduction strategies is limited, even among patients at increased risk of misuse. Only a small minority (8 percent) of patients were found to have undergone any urine drug testing. While such testing was more common in patients at higher risk for opioid misuse, the rate of testing among those high-risk patients was still low (24 percent). Only half of patients were seen regularly in the office, and patients at higher risk of opioid misuse were not seen more frequently than patients at lower risk. Although fewer than one-quarter (23 percent) of all patients received two or more early opioid refills, patients at greater risk for opioid misuse were more likely to receive multiple early refills. |
| |
| Source: Starrels, JL et. al. Low use of opioid risk reduction strategies in primary care even for high risk patients with chronic pain J Gen Intern Med 2011 Sep;26(9):958-64. Epub 2011 Feb 24. |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
