Cost drivers of prescription opioid abuse in commercial and Medicare populations

Objective: Growth in the number of patients with pain conditions, and the subsequent rise in prescription opioid use for treatment, has been accompanied by an increase in diagnosed opioid abuse. Understanding what drives the incremental healthcare costs of members diagnosed with prescription opioid abuse may assist in developing better screening techniques for abuse.

Design: This retrospective analysis examined costs, resource use, and comorbidities 365 days pre- and postdiagnosis in prescription opioid users diagnosed with abuse (cases) vs. their matched nondiagnosed controls. Inclusion criteria for cases were diagnosis of opioid abuse (ICD-9-CM: 304.0x, 304.7x, 305.5x, 965.0x). Multivariate analysis used generalized linear modeling with log-transformed cost as dependent variable, controlling for comorbidities.

Results: Final sample sizes were 8,390 cases and 16,780 matched controls. Postindex abuse-related costs were $2,099 for commercial members, $539 for Medicare members aged < 65, and $170 for Medicare members aged ≥ 65. A higher percentage of cases had pain conditions (82.0% vs. 57.4% commercial, 95.9% vs. 87.5% Medicare members aged < 65, 92.9% vs. 82.4% Medicare members aged ≥ 65, P < 0.0001), and a higher numbers of cases had multiple opioid prescribers (3.7 vs. 1.4 commercial, 3.3 vs. 2.2 Medicare < 65, 2.2 vs. 1.6 Medicare ≥ 65, P < 0.0001) than controls preindex. Cases had higher rates of substance abuse and psychiatric diagnoses pre- and postindex (P < 0.0001, all comparisons). Adjusted costs were 28% higher for cases than for controls (P < 0.0001).

Conclusion: Costs of members diagnosed with prescription opioid abuse are driven by higher pain and psychiatric comorbidities relative to nonabuse controls.