National Trends in Prescription Opioid Risk Mitigation Practices: Implications for Prescriber Education

Objectives: To assess national trends in selected prescription opioid risk mitigation practices and associations with prescriber type, state-specific opioid overdose severity, and required pain education.

Methods: Analysis of the national SCOPE of Pain registrants' baseline self-report of five safer opioid prescribing practices over three years (March 2013-Februrary 2016).

Results: Of 6,889 registrants for SCOPE of Pain, 70-94% reported performing each of five opioid risk mitigation practices for "most or all" patients, with 49% doing so for all five practices. Only 28% performed all five practices for "all" patients prescribed opioids. There were few differences among three yearly cohorts. Advanced practice nurses reported performing practices for "all" patients more often than physicians or physician assistants. Clinicians from states with high opioid overdose rates reported significantly higher implementation of most practices, compared with clinicians from states with low rates.

Conclusions: Prescribers report low levels of employing five opioid risk mitigation practices for all patients prescribed opioids before attending a safer opioid prescribing training.

Policy implications: Safer opioid prescribing education should transition from knowledge acquisition toward universal implementation of opioid risk mitigation practices.