Opioid prescribing patterns among generalists & oncologists for Medicare Part D beneficiaries from 2013-2017.

Authors

Trevor Royce

Trevor Joseph Royce

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC

Trevor Joseph Royce , Andrew Roberts , Stacie Dusetzina , Ankit Agarwal

Organizations

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN

Research Funding

U.S. National Institutes of Health
U.S. National Institutes of Health

Background: In response to the opioid crisis, recent policies aiming to reduce opioid prescribing, misuse, & abuse have generated concern that patients with cancer pain may unintentionally experience reduced access to necessary opioid therapy. It is unknown how opioid prescribing patterns have changed between generalists and oncologists during this era. Methods: We conducted a longitudinal repeated cross-sectional study estimating adjusted annual national trends in opioid prescribing among generalists & oncologists using the Medicare Part D Prescriber Public Use Files 2013-2017. Poisson models estimated annual adjusted predicted mean rates of opioid prescribing-per-1,000 total prescriptions & long-acting opioid prescribing per-1,000 opioid prescriptions. Poisson models estimated adjusted incidence rate ratios (aIRRs) to quantify annual changes in prescribing rates. Results: From 2013-2017 the annual adjusted predicted mean rate of opioid prescriptions per 1,000 total prescriptions decreased from 53.4 to 41.3 among generalists (aIRR = 0.78; p < 0.01) and from 133.2 to 105.9 among oncologists (aIRR = 0.83; p < 0.01). The rate of long-acting opioid fills per 1,000 opioid prescriptions decreased from 96.0 to 87.0 (aIRR = 0.87; p < 0.01) and 235.1 to 222.5 (aIRR = 0.95; p < 0.01) for generalists & oncologists, respectively (Table). Conclusions: We found large declines in overall opioid prescribing rates among generalists (-22%) and oncologists (-17%) from 2013-2017. Long-acting opioid prescribing rates decreased over 2.5-times more among generalists than oncologists. Opioid policy & advocacy have been effective in reducing the extent of opioid prescribing in the Medicare population but how much of the decrease in prescribing by oncologists is ‘appropriate’ versus ‘inappropriate’ deserves further investigation.

All opioids
Long Acting opioids
Generalists
Oncologists
Generalists
Oncologists
aIRR (95%CI)PaIRR (95%CI)PaIRR (95%CI)PaIRR (95%CI)P
2013RefRefRefRef
20140.98 (0.97-0.99)< .010.97 (0.95-0.98)< .010.98 (0.97-0.99)< .011.00 (0.98-1.02)1.00
20150.92 (0.91-0.92)< .010.92 (0.91-0.94)< .010.94 (0.93-0.95)< .011.01 (0.99-1.04)0.24
20160.85 (0.85-0.86)< .010.88 (0.87-0.90)< .010.92 (0.91-0.93< .010.99 (0.97-1.02)0.52
20170.78 (0.77-0.78)< .010.83 (0.82-0.85)< .010.87 (0.86-0.88)< .010.95 (0.93-0.98)< .01

Disclaimer

This material on this page is ©2024 American Society of Clinical Oncology, all rights reserved. Licensing available upon request. For more information, please contact licensing@asco.org

Abstract Details

Meeting

2020 ASCO Virtual Scientific Program

Session Type

Poster Session

Session Title

Care Delivery and Regulatory Policy

Track

Care Delivery and Quality Care

Sub Track

Health and Regulatory Policy

Citation

J Clin Oncol 38: 2020 (suppl; abstr 2070)

DOI

10.1200/JCO.2020.38.15_suppl.2070

Abstract #

2070

Poster Bd #

62

Abstract Disclosures

Similar Abstracts

First Author: Max Joseph Bouvette

Abstract

2024 ASCO Quality Care Symposium

Opioid tapering and discontinuation for head and neck cancer (HNC) survivors.

First Author: Talya Salz

Abstract

2021 ASCO Annual Meeting

Analysis of opioid and adjunctive pain medication prescriptions in lung cancer patients.

First Author: Benjamin Aaron Bleiberg

First Author: Brian Lasonde