Opioid misuse and abuse is one of the most pressing public health issues in the U.S., and hospitals and health systems are on the front lines. Currently, most health systems focus their opioid management efforts on select medical specialties, and providers typically intervene only after the patient has shown signs of misuse and addiction. Given the accelerating epidemic it’s clear that this is not enough.

This research report outlines three imperatives to guide hospitals and health systems in their efforts to reduce the impact of inappropriate opioid prescribing and misuse.

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Three imperatives for addressing the opioid crisis

U.S. retail pharmacies dispense 245 million opioid prescriptions each year. Though most of these prescriptions are likely used legitimately, inappropriate prescribing practices and patient susceptibility to tolerance and physical dependence are increasingly leading to opioid misuse, abuse, and addiction. As a result, the U.S. health care system incurs $53.4 billion in annual direct and indirect costs for the non-medical use of prescription opioids.

To improve upon currentapproaches to the opioid crisis,providers should approach the opioid epidemic by:

1. Hardwiring cultural change with regard to opioids (p. 13)
2. Developing resources for prescribing across the opioid episode (p. 21)
3. Engaging the community in efforts to reduce opioid use and misuse beyond the hospital (p. 27)

These imperatives will help hospitalscentralize and coordinate efforts tomaximize the impact of hospital interventions in reducing opioid misuse and abuse. Look inside for case studies of organizations that successfully implemented these strategies.

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