WCRI Study
Oklahoma recently enacted new rules for opioid use as 8% of the general population were long term users of painkillers. WCRI recently performed a startling study on Workers Compensation opioid use which indicated that Louisiana and New York injured workers were ingesting massive amounts of opioids.
The WCRI study was titled – Interstate Variations in Narcotics Use – 2nd edition. Graphics are usually not in the article on this blog. However, the graph at the end of this article is “worth a thousand words.” The graph below says it all concerning opioid use.
I usually do not like to cut/past right out of press releases, but WCRI’s Dr. Victor said it better than I could on WC opioid abuse. The complete study is available here. If you are a risk manager, adjuster, or anyone involved with WC claims, this is a very thorough study that should receive your attention.
The dangers of narcotic misuse resulting in death and addiction constitute a top priority public health problem in the United States and are shared by the workers’ compensation community,” said Dr. Richard Victor, WCRI’s executive director. “This study will give public officials, employers, worker advocates, and other stakeholders the ability to see how the use and prescribing of narcotics in their state compares to others.”
According to the study, the average injured worker in New York and Louisiana received over 3,600 milligrams of morphine equivalent narcotics per claim (double the number in the typical state). To illustrate, this amount is equivalent to an injured worker taking a 5-milligram Vicodin® tablet every four hours for four months continuously, or a 120-milligram morphine equivalent daily dose for an entire month.
Besides New York and Louisiana, the amount of narcotics per claim was also higher in Pennsylvania and Oklahoma (32–48 percent higher than the typical state). Michigan had the highest amount of narcotics per claim among the Midwest states included in this study. It is worth noting that Michigan was among the states with lower use of narcotics per claim compared with the typical state in 2008/2010.
The study found that narcotics are frequently used in the workers’ compensation system. In 2010/2012, about 65 to 85 percent of injured workers with pain medications received narcotics for pain relief in most states. A slightly higher proportion of injured workers with pain medications in Arkansas (88 percent) and Louisiana (87 percent) received narcotics.
The study is based on approximately 264,000 workers’ compensation claims and 1.5 million prescriptions associated with those claims from 25 states. The claims represent injuries arising from October 1, 2007, to September 30, 2010, with prescriptions filled up to March 31, 2012. The underlying data reflect an average of 24 months of experience.
The following states are included in this study: Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin.
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