Today’s edition of WorkCompRecap features some more interesting findings from WCRI’s recent report on longer-term opioid use, which examined usage in 21 states and how often recommended medical treatment guidelines for monitoring injured workers with longer-term use were followed by physicians.
The study found relatively low compliance in most states, including New York, where there was a 1 in 7 chance that a worker who started taking narcotics would still be on them 3 to 6 months later – a 75 percent higher risk than in the median state. Other key findings included that drug testing was used less frequently than recommended by treatment guidelines for chronic opioid management, and very rare usage of psychological evaluation in injured workers with longer term use of narcotics.
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