Impact of state policies on opioid prescribing among surgery and injury
patients: Controlled interrupted time-series study, North Carolina,
2014-2019
Abstract
Purpose: Impact of policies limiting opioid prescribing for
acute and post-surgical pain among racially minoritized populations are
not well understood. We evaluated the impact of two North Carolina (NC)
policies on outpatient opioid prescribing among injury and surgical
patients by race, ethnicity, age, and sex. Methods: We
conducted controlled and single series interrupted time series using
electronic health data from two integrated healthcare systems in NC,
among >11 years-old patients having acute injuries and
surgery between April 2014 to December 2019. The policy interventions
were safe opioid prescribing investigative initiative (SOPI, May 2016)
and NC law limiting opioid days’ supply (STOP Act, January 2018).
Outcomes included, proportion of patients receiving index opioid
prescription after surgery or injury event, receipt of subsequent opioid
prescriptions, days’ supply, and milligrams of morphine equivalents
(MME). Results: Of the 621,997 surgical and 864,061 injury
patients, 69.4% and 19.7%, respectively, received an index opioid
analgesic prescription. There were sustained declines in index opioid
prescription among post-surgical patients after SOPI [-2.7% per year
(-4.6, -0.9)] and STOP act [-4.1% (-5.9, -2.2)], but no change
among injury patients. Policy-related opioid prescribing declines were
larger among black, native American, and Hispanic post-surgical patients
than whites and Asians. Index and subsequent opioid days’ supply showed
sustained declines after SOPI and STOP Act among post-surgical patients.
There was no policy impact on MME. Conclusions: Policies were
associated with reductions in opioid prescribing, particularly in
post-surgical patients, however, racialized disparities likely reflect
implicit and explicit racialized biases in pain management practices.