CDC Reports: First Substantial Decline in Overdose Deaths in any State in the Last 10 Years

New reports from the CDC show that progress is possible in the fight against prescription drug misuse and abuse.  Highlights from each of two reports released yesterday:

From Variation Among States in Prescribing of Opioid Pain Relievers and Benzodiazepines:
States can take other actions that will affect prescribers. Developing or adopting existing guidelines for prescribing OPR and other controlled substances can establish local standards of care that might help bring prescribing rates more in line with current best practices. State Medicaid programs can manage pharmacy benefits so as to promote cautious, consistent use of OPR and benzodiazepines. In addition, a number of states have passed laws designed to address the most egregious prescribing excesses. Florida, for example, enacted pain clinic legislation in 2010 and prohibited dispensing by prescribers in 2011. It subsequently experienced a decline in rates of drug diversion (17) and a 52% decline in its oxycodone overdose death rate (18). Guidelines, insurance strategies, and laws are promising interventions that need further evaluation.

And from Decline in Drug Overdose Deaths After State Policy Changes, Florida 2010-2012:
This analysis showed that policy changes in Florida were followed by declines in the prescribing of drugs, especially those favored by Florida prescribing dispensers and pain clinics, as well as by declines in overdose deaths involving those drugs. Florida has reported that approximately 250 pain clinics were closed by 2013, and the number of high-volume oxycodone dispensing prescribers declined from 98 in 2010 to 13 in 2012 and zero in 2013 (2). Law enforcement agencies in Florida also reported that rates of drug diversion (i.e., channeling of prescription drugs to illicit markets) declined during 2010–2012 (6). Preliminary data for the first half of 2013 from the FMEC indicate a continued decline in oxycodone and alprazolam overdose deaths (4). These changes might represent the first documented substantial decline in drug overdose mortality in any state during the past 10 years.


Progress is possible.  Guidelines, insurance strategies, regulatory/legislative action, and common sense education are the keys to mitigating this epidemic.  The CDC reports yesterday put data behind what we already knew to be true.

Michael
On Twitter @PRIUM1