TY - JOUR
T1 - Opioid Prescribing by Primary Care Providers
T2 - a Cross-Sectional Analysis of Nurse Practitioner, Physician Assistant, and Physician Prescribing Patterns
AU - Lozada, M. James
AU - Raji, Mukaila A.
AU - Goodwin, James S.
AU - Kuo, Yong Fang
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, Society of General Internal Medicine.
PY - 2020/9/1
Y1 - 2020/9/1
N2 - Background: Prescription opioid overprescribing is a focal point for legislators, but little is known about opioid prescribing patterns of primary care nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs). Objective: To identify prescription opioid overprescribers by comparing prescribing patterns of primary care physicians (MDs), nurse practitioners (NPs), and physician assistants (PAs). Design: Retrospective, cross-sectional analysis of Medicare Part D enrollee prescription data. Participants: Twenty percent national sample of 2015 Medicare Part D enrollees. Main Measures: We identified potential opioid overprescribing as providers who met at least one of the following: (1) prescribed any opioid to > 50% of patients, (2) prescribed ≥ 100 morphine milligram equivalents (MME)/day to > 10% of patients, or (3) prescribed an opioid > 90 days to > 20% of patients. Key Results: Among 222,689 primary care providers, 3.8% of MDs, 8.0% of NPs, and 9.8% of PAs met at least one definition of overprescribing. 1.3% of MDs, 6.3% of NPs, and 8.8% of PAs prescribed an opioid to at least 50% of patients. NPs/PAs practicing in states with independent prescription authority were > 20 times more likely to overprescribe opioids than NPs/PAs in prescription-restricted states. Conclusions: Most NPs/PAs prescribed opioids in a pattern similar to MDs, but NPs/PAs had more outliers who prescribed high-frequency, high-dose opioids than did MDs. Efforts to reduce opioid overprescribing should include targeted provider education, risk stratification, and state legislation.
AB - Background: Prescription opioid overprescribing is a focal point for legislators, but little is known about opioid prescribing patterns of primary care nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs). Objective: To identify prescription opioid overprescribers by comparing prescribing patterns of primary care physicians (MDs), nurse practitioners (NPs), and physician assistants (PAs). Design: Retrospective, cross-sectional analysis of Medicare Part D enrollee prescription data. Participants: Twenty percent national sample of 2015 Medicare Part D enrollees. Main Measures: We identified potential opioid overprescribing as providers who met at least one of the following: (1) prescribed any opioid to > 50% of patients, (2) prescribed ≥ 100 morphine milligram equivalents (MME)/day to > 10% of patients, or (3) prescribed an opioid > 90 days to > 20% of patients. Key Results: Among 222,689 primary care providers, 3.8% of MDs, 8.0% of NPs, and 9.8% of PAs met at least one definition of overprescribing. 1.3% of MDs, 6.3% of NPs, and 8.8% of PAs prescribed an opioid to at least 50% of patients. NPs/PAs practicing in states with independent prescription authority were > 20 times more likely to overprescribe opioids than NPs/PAs in prescription-restricted states. Conclusions: Most NPs/PAs prescribed opioids in a pattern similar to MDs, but NPs/PAs had more outliers who prescribed high-frequency, high-dose opioids than did MDs. Efforts to reduce opioid overprescribing should include targeted provider education, risk stratification, and state legislation.
KW - nurse practitioner
KW - opioid epidemic
KW - opioid prescribing
KW - physician assistant
KW - primary care providers
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U2 - 10.1007/s11606-020-05823-0
DO - 10.1007/s11606-020-05823-0
M3 - Article
C2 - 32333312
AN - SCOPUS:85084133339
SN - 0884-8734
VL - 35
SP - 2584
EP - 2592
JO - Journal of general internal medicine
JF - Journal of general internal medicine
IS - 9
ER -