Abstract
Introduction
In response to the US opioid crisis, interventions are being implemented to lower opioid prescribing to reduce opioid misuse and overdose. As opioid prescribing falls, opioid misuse may shift from prescriptions to other, possibly illicit, sources. We examined how the percentage of patients with an opioid use disorder (OUD) diagnosis in a given year without a current opioid prescription changed over a decade among commercially insured enrollees and Medicaid beneficiaries. We also examined how the percentages differed by enrollee demographic factors.
Methods
We used commercial and Medicaid claims from the IBM MarketScan® databases from 2005 to 2015 to identify enrollees with and without current opioid prescriptions who have been diagnosed with OUD. We measured the percentage of enrollees with OUD without a current opioid prescription by year and demographic factors.
Results
We identified 99,396 enrollee-years with OUD covered by commercial insurance and 60,492 enrollee-years with OUD covered by Medicaid. Among enrollees with OUD, the percentage without a current opioid prescription increased from 37% in 2005 to 49% in 2012 before falling back to 39% in 2015 in the commercial population, and increased from 32% in 2005 to 38% in 2015 in the Medicaid population. Differences in percentages were observed by age, sex, race, and region, particularly among young people where 70 to 89% had OUD without a current prescription.
Conclusions
Most enrollees with OUD in the data had current opioid prescriptions, suggesting that continuing efforts to reduce misuse of prescribed opioids among patients with prescriptions may be effective. However, a substantial percentage of enrollees with OUD may be obtaining opioids via other, likely illegitimate, channels, particularly younger people, which suggests an opportunity for targeted efforts to reduce opioid diversion.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Compton WM, Jones CM, Baldwin GT. Relationship between nonmedical prescription-opioid use and heroin use. N Engl J Med. 2016;374:154–63. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMra1508490.
Wu LT, Pilowsky DJ, Patkar AA. Non-prescribed use of pain relievers among adolescents in the United States. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2008;94:1–11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2007.09.023.
Han B, Compton WM, Jones CM, Cai R. Nonmedical prescription opioid use and use disorder among adults aged 18 through 64 years in the United States, 2003-2013. JAMA. 2015;314(14):1468–78. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2015.11859.
Fortuna RJ, Robbins BW, Caiola E, Joynt M, Halterman JS. Prescribing of controlled medications to adolescents and young adults in the United States. Pediatrics. 2010;126:1108–16. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2010-0791.
Dart RC, Surratt HL, Cicero TJ, Parrino MW, Severtson SG, Bucher-Bartelson B, et al. Trends in opioid analgesic abuse and mortality in the United States. N Engl J Med. 2015;372:241–8. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMsa1406143.
Guy GP, Zhang K, Bohm MK, Losby J, Lewis B, Young R, et al. Vital signs: changes in opioid prescribing in the United States, 2006–2015. Morb Mortal Wkly Rep (MMWR). 2017;66(26):697–704. https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6626a4.
Hedegaard H, Warner M, Miniño AM.Drug overdose deaths in the United States, 1999–2016 NCHS data brief, no 294. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2017. Available from:. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db294.pdfAccessed 27 February 2019.
National Institutes of Health: National Institute on Drug Abuse. Overdose death rates. 2017. https://www.drugabuse.gov/related-topics/trends-statistics/overdose-death-rates Accessed 28 Aug 2017.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Results from the 2009 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: Volume I. Summary of National Findings. 2010. http://archive.samhsa.gov/data/2k9/2k9Resultsweb/web/2k9results.pdf Accessed 28 Aug 2017.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Results from the 2012 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: Summary of National Findings. 2013. https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/NSDUHresults2012/NSDUHresults2012.pdf Accessed 28 Aug 2017.
Hughes A, Williams MR, Lipari RN, Bose J, Copello EAP, Kroutil LA. Prescription drug use and misuse in the United States: results from the 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. 2016. https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/NSDUH-FFR2-2015/NSDUH-FFR2-2015.pdf Accessed 28 Aug 2017.
Shei A, Rice JB, Kirson NY, Bodnar K, Birnbaum HG, Holly P, et al. Sources of prescription opioids among diagnosed opioid abusers. Curr Med Res Opin. 2015;31(4):779–84. https://doi.org/10.1185/03007995.2015.1016607.
South Dakota State Medical Association. Opiate analgesics for chronic non-cancer pain: recommendations from the committee on pain management and prescription drug abuse. 2016. https://www.sdsma.org/docs/pdfs-new_site/Advocacy/WhitepaperUpdated.pdf Access 28 Aug 2017.
Governor’s Cabinet Opiate Action Team. Ohio guideline for the management of acute pain outside of emergency departments. 2016. http://mha.ohio.gov/Portals/0/assets/Initiatives/GCOAT/Guidelines-Acute-Pain-20160119.pdf Accessed 28 Aug 2017.
McCabe SE, West BT, Teter CJ, Boyd CJ. Medical and nonmedical use of prescription opioids among high school seniors in the United States. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2012;166(9):797–802. https://doi.org/10.1001/archpediatrics.2012.85.
Meier EA, Troost JP, Anthony JC. Extramedical use of prescription pain relievers by youth aged 12 to 21 years in the United States: national estimates by age and by year. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2012;166(9):803–7. https://doi.org/10.1001/archpediatrics.2012.209.
McCabe SE, West BT, Boyd CJ. Leftover prescription opioids and nonmedical use among high school seniors: a multi-cohort national study. J Adolesc Health. 2013;52(4):480–5. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2012.08.007.
Schepis TS, Hakes JK. Dose-related effects for the precipitation of psychopathology by opioid or tranquilizer/sedative nonmedical prescription use: results from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions. J Addict Med. 2013;7(1):39–44. https://doi.org/10.1097/ADM.0b013e318277e9e5.
Dowell D, Haegerich TM, Chou R. CDC guideline for prescribing opioids for chronic pain – United States, 2016. Morb Mortal Wkly Rep (MMWR). 2016;65(1):1–49. https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.rr6501e1.
Manubay JM, Davidson J, Vosburg S, Jones J, Comer S, Sullivan M. Sex differences among opioid-abusing chronic pain patients in a clinical trial. J Addict Med. 2015;9(1):46–2.
Byrnes JP, Miller DC, Schafer WD. Gender differences in risk taking: a meta-analysis. Psychol Bull. 1999;125(3):367–83.
Case A, Deaton A. Mortality and morbidity in the 21st century. Brook Pap Econ Act. 2017:23–4.
Garcia TC, Bernstein AB, Bush MA. Emergency department visitors and visits: who used the emergency room in 2007? NCHS Data Brief. 2010; No. 38.
Parrish DD, Kent CK. Access to care issues for African American communities: implications for STD disparities. Sex Transm Dis. 2008;35(12 Suppl):S19–22.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Prescribing data. 2017. https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/data/prescribing.html. Accessed September 6, 2017.
Mazer-Amirshahi M, Mullins PM, Rasooly I, Anker J, Pines JM. Rising opioid prescribing in adult U.S. emergency department visits: 2001-2010. Acad Emerg Med. 2014;21(3):236–43.
Ali M, Teich J, Mutter R. Reasons for not seeking substance use disorder treatment: variations by health insurance coverage. J Behav Health Serv Res. 2017;44(1):63–74.
Ali M, Dowd W, Classen T, Mutter R, Novak S. Prescription drug monitoring programs, nonmedical use of prescription drugs, and heroin use: evidence from the National Survey of Drug Use and Health. Addict Behav. 2017;69:65–77.
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to acknowledge Cory Pack of Truven Health Analytics, an IBM Company, for programming support.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflicts of Interest
None. This paper has not been subject to the Congressional Budget Office’s regular review and editing process. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the Congressional Budget Office, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning & Evaluation, or the US Department of Health & Human Services.
Additional information
Supervising Editor: Richard Wang, DO
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Appendix
Appendix
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ali, M.M., Cutler, E., Mutter, R. et al. Opioid Use Disorder and Prescribed Opioid Regimens: Evidence from Commercial and Medicaid Claims, 2005–2015. J. Med. Toxicol. 15, 156–168 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13181-019-00715-0
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13181-019-00715-0