Legislative and Regulatory Trends

(EDU-L4) Implementation of Harm Reduction Strategies in High-Risk Opioid-Benzodiazepine Regimens

Tuesday, April 13, 2021

4:30 PM – 5:30 PM

ACPE UAN: | Contact Hours: 1 | Activity Type: Knowledge-based

Faculty(s)

Michael R. Jones, PharmD

Clinical Consultant Pharmacist
University of Massachusetts Medical School - Commonwealth Medicine, Clinical Pharmacy Services
Shrewsbury, MA
Kimberly Lenz, PharmD

Director of Clinical and Operational Pharmacy, MassHealth
University of Massachusetts Medical School - Commonwealth Medicine
Quincy, MA

Opioid addiction and overdose remain a serious burden to the healthcare system at large. From 1999 to 2018, more than 232,000 people have died from overdoses related to prescription opioids. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain acknowledges that the concurrent use of benzodiazepines and opioids is involved in 31% to 61% of fatal overdoses. The management of opioid and benzodiazepines represents a significant challenge for payers.

This session will highlight the impact of recent federal legislation and evidence-based guidance on managed care organizations, with a focus on recent recommendations for the use of naloxone provided by the AMCP Addiction Advisory Group (AAG) and the implementation of SUPPORT Act requirements by Medicare and Medicaid Organizations.

Learning Objectives:

At the completion of this activity, participants should be able to:

Summarize the risk of concomitant use of chronic opioids and benzodiazepines and describe the recent statistics as reported in the literature.
Summarize an upcoming report from the Addiction Advisory Group (AAG) on the role of managed care pharmacy in co-prescribing naloxone for patients.
Describe the response of a state Medicaid program to the Federal oversight requirement on the concomitant use of opioids and benzodiazepines.