Communications / Technical Issues / Technical Issue

Member Alert: Free CWCI Webinar on Opioid Study and Companion Analytic Tool

Date: 05/05/2016

Attached is a copy of a CWCI Research Note that provides an in-depth look at opioid trends in the California workers’ compensation system using data from more than 10.8 million prescriptions filled between 2005 and 2014, resulting in $1.1 billion in pharmacy payments. The analysis shows the volume and payment distributions for the top 20 workers’ compensation drug categories; the volume and payment distributions for brand and generic opioids; the percentage of injured workers who receive opioids; and the levels of opioid medication injured workers received, as indicated by the average number of opioid prescriptions per user; the average number of morphine milligram equivalents per prescription, and the total morphine equivalents per opioid user. Among key findings in the report:

Overall, opioids represented 29.8 percent of the prescription drugs and 27.3 percent of the total workers’ compensation prescription drug spend in the past decade.
Opioids increased from 27 percent of all workers’ compensation prescriptions in 2005 to 32 percent in 2008, but then fell back to 27 percent in 2014. Even with the recent decline, opioids have remained the number one prescription drug category in both use and payments since 2006.
Opioids grew from 19.3 percent of California workers’ compensation prescription drug payments in 2005 to 24.4 percent in 2014, but much of that growth was due to the increased use of brand-name opioids between 2005 and 2009.
- In 2005, less than 1 out of 6 dollars paid for an opioid was for a brand-name drug; by 2009, brand drugs represented nearly half all dollars paid for opioids. Since 2009, however, use of lower cost generic opioids has increased relative to brand opioids, so the proportion of the opioid drug spend paying for brand drugs has dropped to 41 percent.
Between 2005 and 2014 the average payment per opioid prescription increased 85 percent from $61 to $113 while the average payment for non-opioid drugs rose 39 percent from $94 to $131.
The percentage of injured workers receiving opioids within 24 months of injury increased from 22.4 percent in AY 2005 to 27.9 percent in AY 2012.
Among opioid users, several measures of opioid use (also at 24-months post injury) that increased in the early years of the study period are now declining:
- The number of opioid prescriptions per user increased from 3.38 in AY 2005 to a peak of 4.43 in AY 2009 then declined to 4.10 in AY 2012.
- In terms of potency, the average morphine milligram equivalents (MMEs) per opioid prescription increased from 473 in AY 2005 to a peak of 550 in AY 2007 then declined to 422 in AY 2012; and average MMEs per opioid user increased from 1,599 in AY 2005 to 2,355 in AY 2008 then decreased to 1,728 in AY 2012.

These and other findings and analyses are in the report. As a companion piece to the study, CWCI members also can access a special interactive application[1] so you can drill down into the workers’ compensation prescription drug data to gain additional insights and to identify industry norms for comparison to your own results. To assist you in using this interactive tool, CWCI will conduct a free 45-minute Members Only webinar next Wednesday which will include a review of the study and a demonstration of how to use the application. You and your staff are welcome to participate in the webinar, so please pre-enroll at attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/8876737076939414276Confirmations and instructions for participating in the webinar will be emailed to all enrollees. Thank you.

[1]To open the interactive application, click www.cwci.org/tableau_opioid.html and log in with your registered email and password. If you have forgotten your log in information, call 510-251-9470.