Consensus Panel Outlines Problems with CDC Opioid Prescribing Guideline
A multidisciplinary expert panel identified challenges to implementing the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s opioid prescribing guidelines, most of which were in regard to the millions of Americans who take opioids for chronic pain. Their report appeared online in the journal Pain Medicine.
Challenges identified by the panel included “application of dosage ceilings and prescription duration guidance, failure to appreciate the importance of patient involvement in decisions to taper or discontinue opioids, barriers to diagnosis and treatment of opioid use disorder, and impeded access to recommended comprehensive, multimodal pain care,” the report explained.
The consensus panel also expressed concern that policy-making or regulatory bodies might misapply recommendations from the guideline without fully understanding them and without flexibility.
The target audience of the report, the authors explained, consisted of the leaders and institutions that create policy and influence its implementation, such as regulatory agencies, legislators, public and private payers, and healthcare systems.
“Deployment of a guideline from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to reduce the risks of opioid therapy has raised substantial clinical and public policy challenges,” the authors wrote. “The agency anticipated implementation challenges and committed to reevaluating the guideline for intended and unintended effects on clinician and patient outcomes.”
—Jolynn Tumolo
Reference
Kroenke K, Alford DP, Argoff C, et al. Challenges with implementing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention opioid guideline: a consensus panel report [published online ahead of print January 25, 2019]. Pain Medicine, pny307, https://doi.org/10.1093/pm/pny307
