New Research from Ameritox Shows Prescription Painkiller Abuse Epidemic is Ever-Changing

A research report releasedtoday by AmeritoxSM showed an increase in the number of samples testing positive for a drug not prescribed by a doctor or for an illicit drug. But on a positive note, the report also revealed a modest improvement in likely adherence in patients prescribed opioid medications for chronic pain management.

The new research shines a spotlight on 10 states with the greatest number of troubling samples in each of the three categories of concern – “prescribed drug not found,” “non-prescribed drug found” and “one or more illicit drugs found.” Four states ranked in the top 10 in two categories.

Click on the link above to find out where your state ranks.

Michael
On Twitter @PRIUM1

Physicians and Painkillers: A Tale of Two Statistics

See if you can reconcile the following two sets of data points from a survey published by the Journal of the American Medical Association last week regarding physician perceptions of prescription drug abuse:

1) 90% of doctors report prescription drug abuse is a moderate to large problem in their communities and 85% think prescription drugs are overused in clinical practice.

2) 88% of those same doctors are confident in their skills related to prescribing painkillers and almost half of them are comfortable using the drugs for chronic, non-cancer pain.

And there's the rub.  Call this the old "there's a problem, but I'm not contributing to it" phenomenon.  Doctors who profess confidence and comfort prescribing prescription painkillers for chronic, non-cancer pain may be contributing the problem of misuse and abuse, albeit unwittingly.  The study doesn't offer any insights into dosage levels or medication classes or individual drugs, so one cannot draw conclusions.  And I'm certainly not suggesting that painkillers can't be used appropriately for time limited, function-focused management of chronic, non-cancer pain.  But the contrast between the data points struck me.  85% think the drugs are overused... 50% are confident using them with a group of patients for which there's little to no evidence of long term efficacy.  

And this is a commonly observed phenomenon.  Rewind the clock five, six, seven years and a material number of work comp payers (from carriers to TPAs to self-insured employers) were saying the same thing.  "There's a problem, but I'm not contributing to it." I personally heard it at least a dozen times in my first year here at PRIUM (which was five years ago... time flies).  I don't hear it much these days.  As an industry, we're beginning to make concerted, strategic effort to combat prescription drug misuse and abuse and we largely recognize that all payers have a role to play.  While there's still A LOT of work to be done, we've passed through the first step on the road to recovery: payers are not only admitting they have a problem, they're recognizing their past contributions to that problem.

The physician community appears to have the first half down - they're clear we have a problem.  I wonder if they recognize their past and current contributions to the problem.  I know many physicians do.  I hope more come to recognize the need to change patterns of practice in light of the largest man made epidemic in history.

Michael

On Twitter @PRIUM1

What Are You Doing About Compounds?

I've been on the road visiting with customers and I'm hearing a lot about compounds.  Most of us are aware that compound medications are intended to provide certain medications in forms or dosages not commercially available, therefore necessitating a pharmacist create or mix a compound medication.  More of us are becoming aware that compounding represents a significant and growing clinical and financial risk in workers' compensation.  Only a few of us have clear and well documented processes and procedures for dealing with these prescriptions.

While compounding isn't new, the attention being paid to it is, in fact, overdue.  Recently, Express Scripts was sued by several compounding pharmacies for allegedly issuing blanket denials for over 1,000 different active ingredients in compound medications (this policy was in the group health space, not work comp).  While we know such blanket denials aren't feasible in work comp, the tug of war between the compounding pharmacies and the payer community is playing out in our space all the same.

Compounds can be medically necessary and effective, but use should be limited to situations where the oral medication has proven ineffective and/or has produced serious side effects.  Clearly, we're seeing a frequency of compound prescriptions in work comp that far exceeds what is likely medically reasonable and necessary.

So what's your strategy?  What are you doing?  Many compound pharmacies are making obscene amounts of money exploiting gaps in the claims management processes of work comp payers.  How do you plan to close those gaps?

Michael

Two post scripts:

There are a precious few compounding pharmacies trying to do this right.  You should be looking for them and putting them into your networks.

And for a more comprehensive view on compounds in work comp, I'd direct you to the excellent CompPharma white paper from earlier this year.

On Twitter @PRIUM1