Insight, analysis & opinion from Joe Paduda
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
Read More...Happy Friday! It’s Research Roundup time. Here’s my quick takeaways on new research – and how it affects you. WCRI on the interaction of health insurance and workers’ comp Bogdan Savych PhD of WCRI has provided an excellent review of … Continue reading Worker outcomes, opioid reductions, and prices for drugs and hospitals
Read More...That’s the key lesson from today’s session on Dealing with legacy opioid claims at IAIABC’s 104th Convention. BWC Ohio’s Nick Trego PharmD, State Fund of California’s Chief Medical Officer Dinesh Govindarao MD, Washington L&I Medical Director Gary Franklin MD MPH, … Continue reading Chronic opioids can be solved
Read More...72,000 kids, moms, dads, brothers, sisters, best friends died last year from opioid overdoses. Things are so bad that despite the ever-climbing death toll, news reports announcing the butcher’s bill manage to sound somewhat positive, citing reductions in deaths in … Continue reading The Opioid Update
Read More...The reason opioid abuse disorder (OAD) is such a huge problem is because no one’s figured out how to a) fix it while b) making a shipload of money. Sure, there are “solutions” that address bits and pieces including: urine … Continue reading Why we’re not solving opioid addiction
Read More...NCCI’s Raji Chadarevian discussed opioid utilization, price, and cost at NCCI’s AIS 2018. 6 percent of opioid medications used in workers’ comp is for treating opioid use disorder; methadone and suboxone are the drugs of choice. The older the claim … Continue reading Opioids, marijuana, pain, and workers’ comp
Read More...CompPharma’s latest Survey of Prescription Drug Management in Workers’ Compensation (past reports available for download) has some very welcome news; over the last two years, opioid spend is down by one-third. Most of that reduction is from improvements in clinical management … Continue reading Workers’ comp opioid usage is way down
Read More...I’ve lauded the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Comp for their great successes reducing opioid usage. But, I’ve heard from many stakeholders that Ohio’s got a unique advantage; BWC is both the regulator AND the payor, so they get to do … Continue reading The State Fund is solving opioids
Read More...States, cities, counties, school districts, and individuals all have sued the opioid industry. A lot of these have been consolidated in one suit in Federal District Court in Cleveland under what is known as Multidistrict Litigation or MDL. The judge in … Continue reading When are you going to sue the opioid industry?
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