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Opioid Prescribing

Proposed Legislative Changes
 

Washington State

On the current legislative agenda are proposed bills limiting initial opioid prescriptions, requiring providers to discuss the risks of (and offer alternatives to) opioids, and mandating use of the Prescription Monitoring Program.
 

CMS

CMS recently released a proposed rule that Medicare beneficiaries found to be inappropriately using opioids must receive prescriptions from a single clinician and a single pharmacy.

 

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Of the 45 states reporting to AHRQ, Washington has the second-highest rate for opioid-related hospitalizations for individuals aged 65 or more.

Opioid misuse has become a national healthcare crisis. Qualis Health is helping address the issue in two ways:

Generating insightful, actionable analyses of opioid utilization by Idaho and Washington Medicare beneficiaries

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  • See the results of our recent investigation into Washington Medicare beneficiaries' prescription opioid use. For example, we found that this population suffered more than 4,300 non-fatal opioid overdoses in July 2016 - June 2017.
     
  • We have also begun examining the links between opioid use and serious falls by Medicare beneficiaries. Get a preview of this analysis.

 

Providing technical support across healthcare settings

We help providers implement best practices in opioid prescribing and pain management, preventing and tracking adverse drug events (ADEs), and streamlining workflows to enable more effective, efficient, and consistent patient interactions.