Changes in Key Patient Outcomes at the University of North Carolina Family Medicine Center after Introduction of the Opioid Policy
| Variable | Year | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015* | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | |
| Total annual patient visits, n | 58,200 | 61,364 | 65,638 | 64,773 |
| Total opioid prescriptions, n | 7174 | 6724 | 6086 | 6032 |
| Opioid prescribing rate per 100 patient visits | 12.3 | 11.0 | 9.3 | 9.3 |
| Total benzodiazepine prescriptions, n | 2463 | 2231 | 1953 | 2145 |
| Benzodiazepine prescribing rate per 100 patient visits | 4.2 | 3.6 | 3.0 | 3.3 |
| Patients chronically on opioids, n† | 856 | 793 | 718 | 663 |
| Patients on both chronic opioids and chronic benzodiazepines, n‡ | 125 | 93 | 67 | 55 |
↵* The departmental pain management/opioid policy was developed over a 9-month period and implemented in September 2015.
↵† Chronic opioid use defined as 3 or more opioid prescriptions during the calendar year. Of note, patients with a terminal illness could not be excluded from the data set.
↵‡ Defined as 3 opioid prescriptions and 3 benzodiazepine prescriptions during the calendar year.