Study: 40% of Doctors Refuse New Chronic Pain Patients Using Opioids

Study: 40% of Doctors Refuse New Chronic Pain Patients Using Opioids

https://www.usnews.com/news/healthiest-communities/articles/2019-07-12/study-40-of-doctors-refuse-new-chronic-pain-patients-using-opioids

“Insurance status and whether the clinic provided for treatment of (opioid use disorder) were not associated with willingness to accept the new patient taking opioids,” according to the study, published in the online Journal of the American Medical Association.

In the national fight against opioid abuse, policymakers and politicians have deployed a range of strategies, including curbing access to the powerful prescription drugs. The logic: Stop addiction before it starts by restricting the amount of painkillers a patient can take.

But a new paper published Friday presents strong evidence that opioid users who take the drug for chronic pain — but show no signs of addiction — are suffering harmful, potentially deadly consequences of the crackdown, and are at risk of becoming “opioid refugees.”

Slightly more than 4 in 10 doctors’ offices refused to take on new patients who need opioids to control pain, according to the analysis, published in the online Journal of the American Medical Association.

That reluctance, the paper argues, could lead patients who use the drug responsibly as well as those who are addicted to seek out other ways to manage their condition — including illegal potentially dangerous substances like heroin — and increases their risk of suicide.

The results “are concerning not only because they demonstrate how difficult it may be for a patient with chronic pain to find a new primary care physician, but it also raises questions about what happens next,” says Dr. Pooja A. Lagisetty, an internist and researcher at the University of Michigan Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation. Lagisetty was the lead author of the paper, “Access to Primary Care Clinics for Patients With Chronic Pain Receiving Opioids.”

“Where will these patients find relief for their pain? Will they turn to more dangerous illicit opioids?” says Lagisetty. If those patients can’t get a primary care doctor, she adds, “who will manage their other medical problems such as their diabetes and hypertension?”

The situation is likely due to “a combination of factors,” Lagisetty says, including “new regulations (on opioid prescriptions) that are time-consuming (for doctors) to comply with” as well as medical liability, and “stigma against patients with chronic pain.”

Looking to examine whether medical practitioners were willing to take on patients who use opioids — and continue writing prescriptions for them — researchers contacted more than 190 doctor’s offices and clinics in Michigan between June and October of last year.

Following a script, the callers told the medical-care provider that they were the child of a woman who needed a primary-care physician, but “before we get too far, is it OK if my mother takes opioids for pain?”

Of 194 clinics, “40.7% stated that their practitioners were not willing to provide care for new patients taking opioids,” compared to 41% who were willing to schedule an initial appointment, according to the study. Seventeen percent of the clinics wanted more information before deciding whether to accept the patient, but after receiving the information only one agreed to treat her.

“Insurance status and whether the clinic provided for treatment of (opioid use disorder) were not associated with willingness to accept the new patient taking opioids,” according to the study. “However, larger clinics with more practitioners and community health centers were more than willing” to take on an opioid-using patient.

The results could reflect “practitioners’ discomfort with managing opioid therapy for chronic pain or treating patients with OUD as a result of pressures to decrease overall opioid prescribing,” the study says. Further, “our study found that a low number of clinics provided any medications for treatment of” opioid addiction, “and a large number of front-desk staff at clinics … did not know whether their clinic offered OUD treatment.”

Lagisetty found the results surprising “because I expected it to be around 25%” of clinics who wouldn’t take on opioid-using patients. “Forty percent was much higher than I thought it would be.”

For patients, “I think that is still really problematic,” she says. “It’s hard to build a trusting relationship with your doctor to treat your other medical conditions if you feel like your doctor is not willing to address your pain.”

“As a primary care physician, I will often see new patients who say that their previous doctor just stopped prescribing opioids for them,” Lagisetty says. “When I ask why, many will say that the doctor said it was a new ‘policy.’ We see stories about abandoned patients all over the news, and I also think we talk a lot about stigma against patients with addiction, but there is also stigma against patients with pain.”

6 Responses

  1. This is what the state prescription monitoring records are really used for- to deny care if you take any opiates

  2. nothing surprises me anymore.this is a setup to implant you w/’the chip’that God has warned us about.

  3. Frankly, I can’t believe it’s only 40%. Even back in 2014, BEFORE the “guidelines” & PROPAGANDA hysteria madness, I moved across the country & lost all pain treatment. I was unable for over a year to find just a GP to continue prescribing ONLY my thyroid meds (been on them since the mid 70s), because I HAD BEEN a chronic pain patient. I had no pain dr or pain meds, but no one in the medium-small town I moved to would literally let me walk into their office because of my hideous, unforgivable condition of having chronic pain. I had to drive 5 hours round-trip to a free clinic in the main city in the county to get any thyroid meds. (You can’t just quit thyroid meds if you are hypothyroid, unless you want to die off slowly.) but not one doc in the new town would see me under any circumstances.

  4. Good God! Why in the hell are they doctors then? If CVS or Walgreen has a Nurse practitioner providing blood pressure or other simple medications, I guess we won’t need Doctors much. They could develop a new phone app. It really cracks me up. These people take an oath to relieve pain wherever they find it? Kind of backing out of the deal aren’t they? Fine, they don’t mind advertising that they are specialist say in Urology, then they should advertise that they really don’t want to deal with human pain. I think that is more than fair. Kind of like my GP guy who took my money for 10 years. When I developed a spinal disease he wouldn’t write for a few lousy Vicodin till I could find a doctor that would treat me.

  5. I think the stigma against patients who need pain medication is much worse than that against addicts!!

  6. […] Study: 40% of Doctors Refuse New Chronic Pain Patients Using Opioids […]

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