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Background:

Prescription opioid overdose has increased markedly and is of great concern among injured workers receiving workers’ compensation insurance. Given the association between high daily dose of prescription opioids and negative health outcomes, state workers’ compensation boards have disseminated Morphine Equivalent Daily Dose (MEDD) guidelines to discourage high-dose opioid prescribing.

Objective:

To evaluate the impact of MEDD guidelines among workers’ compensation claimants on prescribed opioid dose.

Methods:

Workers’ compensation claims data, 2010–2013 from 2 guideline states and 3 control states were utilized. The study design was an interrupted time series with comparison states and average monthly MEDD was the primary outcome. Policy variables were specified to allow for both instantaneous and gradual effects and additional stratified analyses examined evaluated the …