Working Paper: NBER ID: w29371
Authors: David Neumark; Bogdan Savych
Abstract: We examine the effects of must-access prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) and recent regulations limiting the duration of initial opioid prescriptions on care received by patients with work-related injuries, focusing on opioid utilization and medical care related to pain management. We find that must-access PDMPs contributed to declines in opioid utilization, while regulations limiting duration of initial opioid prescriptions had little effect on whether workers receive opioids, but reduced opioid use among those with prescriptions. We find some evidence that must-access PDMPs affected utilization of other medical care—most interestingly, in light of high opioid use, towards non-opioid pain medication and interventional pain management services for neurologic spine pain. We find that must-access PDMPs and limits on initial prescriptions had little impact on the duration of temporary disability benefits captured at 12 months of maturity.
Keywords: opioid utilization; prescription drug monitoring; workers compensation; temporary disability benefits
JEL Codes: I13; J28
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| must-access PDMPs (I11) | decline in opioid utilization (L49) |
| limits on initial prescriptions (D45) | reduced opioid use among those with prescriptions (L42) |
| must-access PDMPs (I11) | prescribing behavior (I11) |
| must-access PDMPs (I11) | decision to prescribe opioids (D87) |
| substitution towards non-opioid pain medication (Z28) | opioid prescriptions (L42) |
| limits on initial prescriptions (D45) | opioid utilization (L95) |
| must-access PDMPs (I11) | changes in temporary disability benefits (J65) |