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Citation
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Choo EK, Charlesworth CJ, Livingston CJ, Hartung DM, El Ibrahimi S, Kraynov L, McConnell KJ. J. Gen. Intern Med. 2024; ePub(ePub): ePub. |
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Abstract
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BACKGROUND: A novel Oregon Medicaid policy guiding back pain management combined opioid restrictions with emphasis on non-opioid and non-pharmacologic therapies.
OBJECTIVE: To examine the effect of the policy on prescribing, health outcomes, and health service utilization.
DESIGN: Using Medicaid enrollment, medical and prescription claims, prescription drug monitoring program, and vital statistics files, we analyzed the policy's association with selected outcomes using interrupted time series models.
SUBJECTS: Adult Medicaid patients with back pain enrolled between 2014 and 2018.
INTERVENTION: The Oregon Medicaid back pain policy.
MAIN MEASURES: Opioid and non-opioid medication prescribing, procedural care, substance use and mental health conditions, and outpatient and inpatient healthcare utilization.
KEY RESULTS: The policy was associated with decreases in the percentage of Medicaid enrollees with back pain receiving any opioids (- 2.68 percentage points [95% CI - 3.14, - 2.23] level, - 1.01 pp [95% CI - 1.1, - 0.92] slope), days of short-acting opioid use (- 0.4 days [95% CI - 0.53, - 0.26] slope), receipt of more than 7 days of short-acting opioids (- 2.36 pp [95% CI - 2.76, - 1.95] level, - 0.91 pp [95% CI - 1, - 0.83] slope), chronic opioid use (- 1.27 pp [95% CI - 1.59, - 0.94] level, - 0.46 [95% CI - 0.53, - 0.39 slope), and spinal surgeries and procedures. Among secondary outcomes, we found no increase in opioid overdose and a small, statistically significant trend decrease in opioid use disorders. There were small increases in non-opioid substance use and mental health diagnoses and visits but no increase in self-harm.
CONCLUSIONS: A state Medicaid policy emphasizing evidence-based back pain management was associated with decreases in opioid prescribing, spinal surgeries, and opioid use disorder trends, but also short-term increases in mental health encounters and an increase in non-opioid substance use disorder trends. Such policies may help reinforce evidence-based care, but must be designed with consideration of potential harms.
Language: en |