In November 2022, the CDC published an updated Clinical Practice Guidelines for Prescribing Opioids for Pain. The new CDC material contains 12 recommendations and associated implementation considerations focusing on four main topics: (1) whether to initiate opioid therapy, (2) drug and dose selection, (3) duration of initial opioid therapy and conducting follow-up, and (4) risk mitigation strategies. The CDC materials ARE voluntary and ARE NOT legally mandated. Nevertheless, main street practitioners need to understand how the CDC materials relate to their professional licensing board rules and guidelines, and how to incorporate CDC implementation considerations into patient encounters and medical record documentation. Using sample patient encounters, attendees will examine all 12 CDC recommendations, evaluate how to relate them to their state licensing board material, and use them to individualize patient care and improve medical record documentation. As part of this course, attendees will be provided a quick reference guide to support the review of their charting practices with the goal of improving their documentation of opioid prescribing considerations to actively demonstrate quality patient pain care.
Learning Objectives:
1. Describe the key differences between the CDC 2016 and CDC 2022 Clinical Practice Guidelines associated with opioid prescribing and dosing.
2. Explain key elements of documentation associated with capturing clinical rationale for starting patients on opioid therapy, increasing opioid dosages, and discontinuing opioids.
3. Develop a workflow for improving the informed consent process between the prescriber and the patient, and the risks/benefits analysis associated with responsible opioid prescribing.
