PDMP Data Used to Assess Workers' Pre-Injury Opioid Use

A newly published study from Washington state may be among the first to use data from a state prescription drug monitoring program, or PDMP, to look at injured workers’ use of opioids before they are hurt on the job. Among 313,543 claims filed with the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries from 2012 through 2015, 8.6% of injured workers had used opioids in the 90 days before their injury, the researchers found. And for the almost 2% who were chronic opioid users before their injury, 98% received opioids in the 90 days after their injury. “We should be watching thes...