Opioid Discontinuation as An Institutional Mandate: Questions and Answers on Why We Wrote to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Dowell D , Haegerich TM , Chou R . CDC guideline for prescribing opioids for chronic pain — United States, 2016. MMWR Recomm Rep. 2016;65(1):1–49.

Hoffmann J , Goodnough A . Good news: opioid prescribing fell. The bad? Pain Patients Suffer, Doctors Say. New York Times. 2019 March 6, 2019. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/06/health/opioids-pain-cdc-guidelines.html. Accessed April 14, 2019.

Llorente E . As doctors taper or end opioid prescriptions, many patients driven to despair, suicide. 2018. Available at: https://www.foxnews.com/health/as-opioids-become-taboo-doctors-taper-down-or-abandon-pain-patients-driving-many-to-suicide. Accessed March 17, 2019, 2019.

Hawryluk M . Opioid crisis: Pain patients pushed to the brink. Bend Bulletin. 2017 June 2, 2017. Available at: http://www.bendbulletin.com/topics/5342867-151/opioid-crisis-pain-patients-pushed-to-the-brink. Accessed August 28, 2017.

Kroenke K , Alford DP , Argoff C , . Challenges with implementing the centers for disease control and prevention opioid guideline: a consensus panel report. Pain Med. 2019;20(4):724–735.

Darnall BD , Juurlink D , Kerns RD , . International stakeholder community of pain experts and leaders call for an urgent action on forced opioid tapering. Pain Med. 2019;20(3):429–433.

Human Rights Watch. “Not Allowed to Be Compassionate”: Chronic Pain, the Overdose Crisis, and Unintended Harms in the US. Washington, DC December 18, 2018. Available at: https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/hhr1218_web.pdf. Accessed March 9, 2019.

Redfield RR . Personal Correspondence from Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Atlanta, GA April 10, 2019. Available at: http://bit.ly/2P9fpx7. Accessed April 14, 2019.

United States Goverment Accountability Office. Prescription Opioids: Medicare Should Expand Oversight Efforts to Reduce the Risk of Harm. Washington, DC: United States Goverment Accountability Office,; January 17, 2018. Available at: https://www.gao.gov/assets/690/689438.pdf. Accessed April 14, 2019.

National Committee for Quality Assurance. NCQA Updates Quality Measures for HEDIS 2018. Washington, D.C.: National Committee for Quality Assurance; July 11, 2017. Available at: https://www.ncqa.org/news/ncqa-updates-quality-measures-for-hedis-2018/. Accessed April 14, 2019.

Dunn KM , Saunders KW , Rutter CM , . Opioid prescriptions for chronic pain and overdose: a cohort study. Ann Intern Med. 2010;152(2):85–92.

Bohnert ASB , Valenstein M , Bair MJ , . Association between opioid prescribing patterns and opioid overdose-related deaths. JAMA. 2011;305(13):1315–1321.

Glanz JM , Narwaney KJ , Mueller SR , . Prediction model for two-year risk of opioid overdose among patients prescribed chronic opioid therapy. J Gen Intern Med. 2018;33(10):1646–1653.

Zedler B , Xie L , Wang L , . Risk factors for serious prescription opioid-related toxicity or overdose among Veterans Health Administration patients. Pain Med. 2014;15(11):1911–1929.

Oliva EM , Bowe T , Tavakoli S , . Development and applications of the Veterans Health Administration's Stratification Tool for Opioid Risk Mitigation (STORM) to improve opioid safety and prevent overdose and suicide. Psychological Services. 2017;14(1):34–49.

Frank JW , Lovejoy TI , Becker WC , . Patient outcomes in dose reduction or discontinuation of long-term opioid therapy: a systematic review. Ann Intern Med. 2017;167(3):181–191.

Vergamo D . Even More Doctors Are Cutting Back On Opioid Painkillers. May 2, 2018. Available at: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/danvergano/opioid-prescriptions-survey-sermo. Accessed November 15, 2018.

Cigna. Cigna's Partnership with Physicians Successfully Reduces Opioid Use by 25 Percent — One Year Ahead of Goal. Bloomfield, CT March 28, 2018. Accessed June 13, 2018.

Tilburt JC . Addressing dual agency: getting specific about the expectations of professionalism. Am J Bioeth. 2014;14(9):29–36.

United States Food and Drug Administration. FDA identifies harm reported from sudden discontinuation of opioid pain medicines and requires label changes to guide prescribers on gradual, individualized tapering. Washington, DC April 9, 2019. Available at: https://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/ucm635038.htm. Accessed April 14, 2019.

Baker DW . History of the joint commission's pain standards: lessons for today's prescription opioid epidemic. JAMA. 2017;317(11):1117–1118.

National Committee for Quality Assurance. Proposed Changes to Existing Measure for HEDIS®1 2020: Use of Opioids at High Dosage (UOD). Washington, D.C.: National Committee for Quality Assurance; February 12, 2019. Available at: https://www.ncqa.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/20190208_17_UOD.pdf. Accessed April 14, 2019.