Documenting and Improving Opioid Treatment: The Prescription Opioid Documentation and Surveillance (PODS) System

Curbing prescription opioid dependency

Age differences in heroin and prescription opioid abuse among enrolees into opioid treatment programs

BACKGROUND In the United States, among those entering opioid treatment programs (OTPs), prescription opioid (PO) abusers tend to be younger than heroin users. Admissions of older persons to OTPs have been increasing, and it is important to understand typical patterns of use among those older enrolees. METHODS To disentangle the effect of age on recent heroin and PO abuse 29,114 enrolees into ...

Non-Medical Prescription Opioid Use and Prescription Opioid Use Disorder: A Review

Over the past few decades, there has been a rise in the non-medical use of prescription opioids, which has now reached epidemic proportions in the United States. In some cases, this non-medical use progresses to prescription opioid use disorder, heroin use, injection, and inhalation drug use, all of which may have further devastating consequences. The purpose of this review article is to discus...

Effect Of A “No Superuser Opioid Prescription” Policy On ED Visits And Statewide Opioid Prescription

INTRODUCTION The U.S. opioid epidemic has highlighted the need to identify patients at risk of opioid abuse and overdose. We initiated a novel emergency department- (ED) based interventional protocol to transition our superuser patients from the ED to an outpatient chronic pain program. The objective was to evaluate the protocol's effect on superusers' annual ED visits. Secondary outcomes inclu...

Treatment Practice and Research Issues in Improving Opioid Treatment Outcomes

Providers of treatment for opioid addiction have entered a new era of accountability, as Federal and State regulators increasingly demand objective evidence of treatment effectiveness. Since the length of treatment is associated with success of treatment, opioid treatment programs that demonstrate an ability to retain patients can make a strong case that they are effective. The challenge to opi...