Opioid Prescribing: Whose Job Is It? (TH125)

Outcomes 1. Discuss challenges in prescribing opioids 2. Compare various models of prescribing opioids for cancer and noncancer pain patients 3. Propose changes in your current model of opioid prescribing to improve patient care In 2017 the US Department of Health and Human Services declared a public health emergency and presented a 5-point strategy to combat the opioid crisis.1 In 2018 the CDC followed with guidelines on appropriate opioid prescribing.2,3,4 Although patients receiving active cancer treatment, palliative care, and hospice were excluded from these guidelines, it has become increasingly challenging to manage opioids for patients in an ambulatory palliative care setting.5 Referring physicians may respond to these pressures by deferring opioid management to palliative care clinicians, with increased growth in outpatient palliative care access, prompting many palliative care clinicians to examine their institutional role in opioid prescribing. The practice has been further confounded by the growing number of patients surviving cancer in the United States.6 In this session, we will discuss the different opioid prescribing models at five academic palliative care clinics across the country. We will discuss the benefits and challenges of different strategies. This will be followed by a discussion during which attendees can engage with the panel regarding their various models and shared challenges in their own institutions.