The effects of state rules on opioid prescribing in Indiana.

BACKGROUND: Prescription opioids have been linked to over half of the 28,000 opioid overdose deaths in 2014. High rates of prescription opioid non-medical use have continued despite nearly all states implementing large-scale prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMP), which points to the need to examine the impact of state PDMP's on curbing inappropriate opioid prescribing. In the short-term, PDMPs have been associated with short-term prescribing declines. Yet little is known about how such policies differentially impact patient subgroups or are interpreted by prescribing providers. Our objective was to compare volumes of prescribed opioids before and after Indiana implemented opioid prescribing emergency rules and stratify the changes in opioid prescribing by patient and provider subgroups. METHODS: An interrupted time series analysis was conducted using data obtained from the Indiana PDMP. Prescription level data was merged with census data to characterize patient socioeconomic status. Analyses were stratified by patients' gender, age, opioid dosage, and payer. The primary outcome indicator was the total morphine equivalent dose (MED) of dispensed opioids per day in the state of Indiana. Also considered were number of unique patients, unique providers, and prescriptions; MED per transaction and per day; and number of days supplied. RESULTS: After controlling for time trends, we found that total MED for opioids decreased after implementing the new emergency rules, differing by patient gender, age, and payer. The effect was larger for males than females and almost 10 times larger for 0-20 year olds as compared to the 60+ age range. Medicare and Medicaid patients experienced more decline in prescribing than patients with private insurance. Patients with prescriptions paid for by workers' comp experienced the most significant decline. The emergency rules were associated with decline in both the number of prescribers and the number of day supply. CONCLUSIONS: Although the Indiana opioid prescribing emergency rules impacted statewide prescribing behavior across all individual patient and provider characteristics, the emergency rules' effect was not consistent across patient characteristics. Further studies are needed to assess how individual patient characteristics influence the interpretation and application of state policies on opioid prescribing.

Exploring perceptions and experiences of patients who have chronic pain as state prescription opioid policies change: a qualitative study in Indiana.

OBJECTIVES: The misuse and abuse of prescription opioids (POs) is an epidemic in the USA today. Many states have implemented legislation to curb the use of POs resulting from inappropriate prescribing. Indiana legislated opioid prescribing rules that went into effect in December 2013. The rules changed how chronic pain is managed by healthcare providers. This qualitative study aims to evaluate the impact of Indiana's opioid prescription legislation on the patient experiences around pain management. SETTING: This is a qualitative study using interviews of patient and primary care providers to obtain triangulated data sources. The patients were recruited from an integrated pain clinic to which chronic pain patients were referred from federally qualified health clinics (FQHCs). The primacy care providers were recruited from the same FQHCs. The study used inductive, emergent thematic analysis. PARTICIPANTS: Nine patient participants and five primary care providers were included in the study. RESULTS: Living with chronic pain is disruptive to patients' lives on multiple dimensions. The established pain management practices were disrupted by the change in prescription rules. Patient-provider relationships, which involve power dynamics and decision making, shifted significantly in parallel to the rule change. CONCLUSIONS: As a result of the changes in pain management practice, some patients experienced significant challenges. Further studies into the magnitude of this change are necessary. In addition, exploring methods for regulating prescribing while assuring adequate access to pain management is crucial.

"I'm Not Gonna Pull the Rug out From Under You": Patient-Provider Communication About Opioid Tapering.

In response to increases in harms associated with prescription opioids, opioid prescribing has come under greater scrutiny, leading many health care organizations and providers to consider or mandate opioid dose reductions (tapering) for patients with chronic pain. Communicating about tapering can be difficult, particularly for patients receiving long-term opioids who perceive benefits and are using their medications as prescribed. Because of the importance of effective patient-provider communication for pain management and recent health system-level initiatives and provider practices to taper opioids, this study used qualitative methods to understand communication processes related to opioid tapering, to identify best practices and opportunities for improvement. Up to 3 clinic visits per patient were audio-recorded, and individual interviews were conducted with patients and their providers. Four major themes emerged: 1) explaining-patients needed to understand individualized reasons for tapering, beyond general, population-level concerns such as addiction potential, 2) negotiating-patients needed to have input, even if it was simply the rate of tapering, 3) managing difficult conversations-when patients and providers did not reach a shared understanding, difficulties and misunderstandings arose, and 4) nonabandonment-patients needed to know that their providers would not abandon them throughout the tapering process. PERSPECTIVE: Although opioid tapering can be challenging, helping patients to understand individualized reasons for tapering, encouraging patients to have input into the process, and assuring patients they would not be abandoned all appear to facilitate optimal communication about tapering.

Differential dopamine function in fibromyalgia.

Approximately 30 % of Americans suffer from chronic pain disorders, such as fibromyalgia (FM), which can cause debilitating pain. Many pain-killing drugs prescribed for chronic pain disorders are highly addictive, have limited clinical efficacy, and do not treat the cognitive symptoms reported by many patients. The neurobiological substrates of chronic pain are largely unknown, but evidence points to altered dopaminergic transmission in aberrant pain perception. We sought to characterize the dopamine (DA) system in individuals with FM. Positron emission tomography (PET) with [(18)F]fallypride (FAL) was used to assess changes in DA during a working memory challenge relative to a baseline task, and to test for associations between baseline D2/D3 availability and experimental pain measures. Twelve female subjects with FM and 11 female controls completed study procedures. Subjects received one FAL PET scan while performing a "2-back" task, and one while performing a "0-back" (attentional control, "baseline") task. FM subjects had lower baseline FAL binding potential (BP) in several cortical regions relative to controls, including anterior cingulate cortex. In FM subjects, self-reported spontaneous pain negatively correlated with FAL BP in the left orbitofrontal cortex and parahippocampal gyrus. Baseline BP was significantly negatively correlated with experimental pain sensitivity and tolerance in both FM and CON subjects, although spatial patterns of these associations differed between groups. The data suggest that abnormal DA function may be associated with differential processing of pain perception in FM. Further studies are needed to explore the functional significance of DA in nociception and cognitive processing in chronic pain.