Opioid Prescribing Decreases, but Still Above Recommended Levels

Opioid tablets prescribed to patients after same-day surgical procedures in orthopedics and general surgeries dropped 50% from January 2017 to December 2020, but still exceed best practice recommendations from experts in the field, according to research published this month by Epic Health Research Network.

Researchers looked at opioid prescribing habits for 10 common procedures during a four-year period, with data pooled from 87 organizations. Patients studied were all opioid-naïve adults—at least 18 years of age with no opioid prescriptions started or administered between 6 months and 8 days prior to their surgical procedure.

Of the 6 non-orthopedic procedures reviewed, the median number of 5 mg oxycodone tablets prescribed to patients for 4 procedures is now below the maximum level recommended by experts at Johns Hopkins. Median opioid tablets prescribed for all four orthopedic procedures studied remains above the amount recommended by those at Johns Hopkins. The researchers noted that over the 4-year period, the number of procedures that were followed by an opioid prescription remained relatively flat, however, the percentage of quantities of opioid tablets above the recommended amounts has decreased.

“While fewer opioid tablets are being prescribed per prescription across procedures, there is still room for improvement to better align with recommendations for decreasing post-surgical opioid prescriptions,” the researchers wrote.