New tool helps physicians learn if their opioid prescribing is appropriate
Appropriateness measures, based on insurance data and interviews with specialists, help physicians understand their own opioid prescribing patterns.
Addiction is a powerful, complicated disease. Genetic, environmental, and psychosocial characteristics all factor into a person’s risk for dependency. When it comes to opioid addiction, who your doctor is also influences whether or not you will become addicted to these powerful pain medications.
That’s because some doctors write opioid prescriptions more often, and for longer, than other doctors. Taking opioids — , mind you, not weeks or months — can lead to long-term use and addiction. So when a doctor writes an initial prescription for nine days instead of three, that doctor is
