Opioid Treatment and Recovery Through a Safe Pain Management Program

The opioid management tool has quick links to the Opioid Risk Tool (ORT), health maintenance reminders for risk mitigation tasks (pain management agreements; urine drug screening; prescribing naloxone); Pain Scale and depression/anxiety screen. The frequency with which providers are prompted to complete mitigation tasks is based on patients' level of risk for aberrant drug behavior defined by the ORT score. Additionally, the EMR CDS flags patients as high risk if one of the following criteria are met: (1) co-prescriptions for benzodiazepines; (2) active diagnosis of substance abuse in the last 12 months; or (3) MEDD \>=90 mg. The ORT score, morphine equivalent daily dose (MEDD), and hyperlinks to the Louisiana pharmacy drug monitoring program data are visible in the prescription writer. If MEDD \>=90 mg, the calculated MEDD is displayed in red font to alert the prescribing provider of high dosage. An Epic banner appears in charts to alert providers of existing pain management agreements.

The licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) will provide counseling services as indicated (behavioral activation, psychotherapy, crisis planning, facilitating connection to substance abuse counseling and treatment); meet weekly with the consulting psychiatrist for complex case review and care plan adjustments; and supervise the community health worker (CHW) case management and depression/anxiety care management activities. The CHW will update assets and barriers to recovery and self-management and help patients navigate community resources. The clinical pharmacist will review and reconcile active medication lists, assess medication side effects, drug interactions and adverse events; monitor analgesia; recommend algorithm based anti-depression medication titration as indicated. The consulting psychiatrist will directly co-manage patients with severe mental illness, substance abuse and complex medication regimens.