Opioid Progress Widely Reported in Comp Industry

Forty-nine percent of injured workers receiving a prescription drug were taking an opioid in 2017, a figure that was about 4 percentage points lower than in 2016, according to a new workers’ compensation drug trend report from Optum. And 29.1% of prescriptions managed by the pharmacy benefit manager last year were for opioids, down slightly from 31% in 2016. The number of opioid prescriptions per claim decreased 2.3%, and the morphine equivalent dose per claim fell 5.7%, Optum said in its drug trend report. For all drug types, not just opioids, Optum saw drug spend fall 3.6% last year ...