Decline in opioid prescribing after federal rescheduling of hydrocodone products

Purpose To examine differences in opioid prescribing by patient characteristics and variation in hydrocodone combination product (HCP) prescribing attributed to states, before and after the 2014 Drug Enforcement Administration's reclassification of HCP from schedule III to the more restrictive...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety 2018-05, Vol.27 (5), p.513-519
Main Authors: Raji, Mukaila A., Kuo, Yong‐Fang, Adhikari, Deepak, Baillargeon, Jacques, Goodwin, James S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cancer
Federal policy
laws
Narcotics
Opioids
pharmacoepidemiology
public policy
Reclassification
Rescheduling
Tramadol
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Purpose To examine differences in opioid prescribing by patient characteristics and variation in hydrocodone combination product (HCP) prescribing attributed to states, before and after the 2014 Drug Enforcement Administration's reclassification of HCP from schedule III to the more restrictive schedule II. Methods We used 2013 to 2015 data for 9 202 958 patients aged 18 to 64 from a large nationally representative commercial health insurance program to assess the temporal trends in the monthly rate of opioid prescribing. Results HCP prescribing decreased by 26% from June 2013 to June 2015; the rate of prescriptions for any opioid decreased by 11%. Prescribing of non‐hydrocodone schedule III opioids increased slightly while prescribing of non‐hydrocodone schedule II opioids and tramadol was stable. Absolute decreases in HCP prescribing rates were larger in patients being treated for cancer (−2.26% vs −0.7% for non‐cancer patients, P 
ISSN:1053-8569
1099-1557
DOI:10.1002/pds.4376