Prescribing patterns and attitudes of primary care providers regarding long-term opioid therapy

Nancy V. Koch, MD; Richard J. Butterfield III, MA

doi:10.5055/jom.2022.0735

Authors

Nancy V. Koch, MD https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5494-5240
Richard J. Butterfield III, MA

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5055/jom.2022.0735

Keywords:

chronic pain, drug abuse, opioids, pain management

Abstract

Objective: To assess prescribing and referral patterns and attitudes of primary care providers treating patients receiving long-term opioid therapy (LOT) according to recent guidelines.

Design, setting, and participants: An anonymous 25-question survey was distributed to all primary care providers at Mayo Clinic in Arizona (from April 30 through May 22, 2020).

Main outcome measures: Knowledge and comfort with LOT guidelines, prescribing patterns, referral patterns to behavioral and pain specialties, patients’ concomitant substance use, and response variability by provider sex and specialty.

Results: Most of the 31 survey respondents were familiar with LOT guidelines and were comfortable in prescribing opioids; 36 percent reported no increase in prescribing safety. Patient education on naloxone was infrequent. Access affected referral to behavioral and addiction specialties; 87.1 percent referred patients to pain medicine specialists despite reporting little long-term improvement in symptoms. For a significantly larger proportion of internal medicine and women's health (IM/WH) providers, compared with family medicine (FM) providers, Patient Health Questionnaire 9 and Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale scores were the reasons for behavioral health referral. Many providers prescribed additional substances. More female providers reported that patients used gabapentin concomitantly (p = .03). More FM providers than IM/WH providers typically referred patients receiving LOT to addiction specialists (p = .02). Most expressed a need for a multispecialty LOT clinic, and 83.9 percent supported buprenorphine prescribing.

Conclusions: Despite familiarity with LOT guidelines, many providers felt that patient safety and prescribing diligence have not improved. Patient education on naloxone treatment is needed, and access to behavioral specialists is a barrier to referrals.

Author Biographies

Nancy V. Koch, MD

Division of General Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, Arizona

Richard J. Butterfield III, MA

Biostatistics, Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, Arizona

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