Insight, analysis & opinion from Joe Paduda
myMatrixx released it’s annual Drug Trend Report yesterday; there’s a lot of good news – and a few trends that bear close attention. The good stuff (lots more in the report itself) drug costs per patient decreased by 2.4% despite … Continue reading Work comp drug trends – costs and opioid use down, physician dispensers still a big problem
Read More...Last month RIMS announced its annual awards; one of the recipients is the risk manager for Cardinal Health, another has a similar role at McKesson. Awarding awards for excellence in risk management to two individuals at companies with huge liabilities … Continue reading RIMS, opioids, and awards to drug distributors’ risk managers
Read More...Dr Vennela Thumula led off a panel discussing the latest research on changes in opioid prescribing in workers’ comp. Many factors have contributed to the decline, PDMPs, changes in prescribing guidelines and enforcement via legislation, public education and workers’ comp … Continue reading Opioids in workers’ compensation – what’s the latest research and what can you do
Read More...Today’s WorkCompCentral arrived with William Rabb’s report on the use of opioids by workers’ comp patients in Louisiana. [subscription required] A few notable findings: Louisiana work comp patients get more opioids, and they get them for longer periods of time … Continue reading Time for an effective workers’ comp opioid solution for Louisiana
Read More...Two seemingly-unrelated papers hit the inbox yesterday; CWCI’s just-completed analysis of opioid usage in the Golden State, and NCCI’s report on 2019 workers’ comp financials. The key takeaways from NCCI’s report include: Premiums are expected to drop 10 percent in … Continue reading Opioids and work comp premiums
Read More...Workers’ comp has done an admirable job reducing the volume and potency of opioids dispensed to work comp patients. This from our latest Survey of Prescription Drug Management in Workers’ Comp… The question is – how many work comp patients … Continue reading Where have all the work comp opioid patients gone?
Read More...Reportedly Purdue Pharma, the fine folk behind OxyContin, is nearing a settlement with 23 state attorneys general and thousands of other governmental entities. Here are the key takeaways: this does NOT appear to be a universal settlement; other state AGs, … Continue reading The Purdue Opioid “settlement” – key takeaways for workers’ comp
Read More...The hammer is starting to fall on the opioid industry and the repercussions are echoing thru the comp industry. J&J owes Oklahoma $573 million after losing its case in the state Purdue Pharma’s owners are trying to settle all suits … Continue reading Chronic pain, opioids, and workers’ comp
Read More...It’s been a decade since work comp payers and PBMs got the big wakeup call, the one that changed the industry. From looking at drugs just as an expense, the industry began to see how devastating these drugs were to … Continue reading Work comp vs. opioids – how we’re doing
Read More...We’ve just about completed the 16th (!!) Survey of Prescription Drug Management in Workers’ Comp, and there are two key findings you need to know. First – total opioid spend in 2018 dropped 23.2% across all 27 respondents (ranging from … Continue reading The latest data on opioids in work comp
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