Short-term healthcare resource utilization associated with receipt of CDC-informed opioid thresholds among commercially insured new chronic opioid users

Objective: To evaluate the impact of recent changes to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) morphine milligram equivalent (MME)/day threshold recommendations on healthcare utilization. Design: A retrospective cohort study of new chronic opioid users (NCOUs). Setting: Commercially insured plans across the United States using IQVIA PharMetrics® Plus for Academics database with new use between January 2014 and March 2015. Patients: NCOUs with ≥60-day coverage of opioids within a 90-day period with ≥30-day opioid-free period prior to the date of the first qualifying opioid prescription. Interventions: NCOU categorized by the CDC three-tiered risk-based average MME/day thresholds: low (>0 to <50), medium (≥50 to <90), and high (≥90). Main outcome measures: Multivariable logistic regression was used to calculate adjusted odds of incurring an acute care encounter (ACE) (all-cause and opioid related) between the thresholds (adjusted odds, 95 percent confidence interval). Results: In adjusted analyses, when compared to low threshold, there was no difference in the odds of all-cause ACE across the medium (1.01, 0.94-1.28) and high (1.01, 0.84-1.22) thresholds. When compared to low threshold, a statistically insignificant increase was observed when evaluating opioid-related ACE among medium (1.86, 0.86-4.02) and high (1.51, 0.65-3.52) thresholds. Conclusions: There was no difference in odds of an all-cause or opioid-related ACE associated with the thresholds. Early-intervention programs and policies exploring reduction of MME/day among NCOUs may not result in short-term reduction in all-cause or opioid-related ACEs. Further assessment of potential long-term reduction in ACEs among this cohort may be insightful.