Great Data/Studies to Start Your Week

A paper published this week by Accident Fund Holdings and Johns Hopkins University on physician-dispensed medications offers incredible insight into the costs associated with doctors dispensing medications directly from the office to injured workers.  The work is particularly valuable not only because it's so thorough, but because it examines total cost of claims.  There are lots of great statistics here, but the one that jumped out at me: the average claim in the study for which there was never a physician-dispensed medication incurred total claim costs (medical + indemnity + other) of about $33,000.  The average cost incurred on a claim for which there was at least one physician-dispensed opioid?  Almost $57,000.  That's a 70% increase.  (With the analysis controlling for gender, age, acuity, etc.)  Wow.

CWCI has published a research update on use of Schedule II and III medications in the CA work comp system.  The analysis is great, the results are not.  The use of both S-II and S-III opioids ticked up through the first half of 2013 from levels observed in 2012 (19.3% of all prescriptions were S-III, up from 19.0% in 2012... and 7.3% of all scripts were S-II, up from 7.2% in 2012).  Perhaps most notable is that CWCI estimates that nearly half of S-II opioids used in workers' compensation are for minor injuries, where medical evidence doesn't support the use of opioids (nor do the FDA labels on long-acting/extended-released opioids).  If we're spending approximately $1.5 billion on opioids in work comp and we estimate that $750 million of that is inappropriate... What does that mean for injured workers?  What does that mean for state workers' compensation systems?  What does that mean for the PBM industry?  What does that mean for your business?   The implications are significant.  

Finally, there was a piece last week that aired on NPR that should be required listening/reading for everyone in workers' compensation.  We've known for some time that low back injuries are frequent, surgeries (and subsequent surgeries) often don't appear to help, and that long term opioid use is a typical result.  We also have studies that suggest what injured workers with low back pain need to do: move!  Don't fear the pain. Get up and exercise.  This piece puts a human voice behind that logic.  Imagine if all injured workers with low back pain (even those who have suffered failed back surgeries) went through this program.  

Have a great week.

Michael
On Twitter @PRIUM1