U.S. Department of Labor implements opioid safety controls

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP) announced Monday the implementation of new opioid controls to protect injured federal workers. The new controls aim to reduce the risk of long-term opioid use.

The new controls impose a seven-day limit on the initial fill of an opioid prescription. The limit follows the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and is consistent with restrictions now in place in states across the country. Day-supply limits on initial opioid prescriptions have been a widely used strategy to reduce the chances of unintended chronic opioid use. A limit on additional opioid prescriptions, however, is less common. The department has taken the additional step to limit the number of subsequent opioid prescriptions.

The new policy allows filling three subsequent seven-day opioid prescriptions for a maximum of 28-days, but requires prior departmental approval for any prescription beyond this period. To obtain the approval, the prescribing provider must complete a detailed evaluation of the injured worker and certify the medical need for additional opioids.

The Department’s FECA Medical Benefits Examiners will review these evaluations.

These new controls are a part of the department’s ongoing efforts to reduce the potential for opioid misuse and addiction among injured federal workers. The department created the Opioid Action Plan in response to the president’s initiative in combating the opioid epidemic. The plan centers on four areas: effective controls, tailored treatment, impactful communications and aggressive fraud detection.

Among injured federal workers, the department’s latest data show a 34% decline in overall opioid use, a 25% decline in new opioid prescriptions, a 54% decline in new opioid prescriptions lasting more than 30 days, a 71% drop in claimants with a morphine equivalent dose (MED) of 500 or more, and a 43% drop in users with an MED of 90 or more. These efforts to protect the federal work force will continue.

OWCP provides wage replacement benefits, medical benefits, vocational rehabilitation and other benefits to federal workers who sustain a work-related injury or occupational disease. The workers’ compensation health care costs for injured federal workers have averaged nearly $1 billion annually over the past several years.

OWCP’s mission is to protect the interests of workers who are injured or become ill on the job, their families and their employers by making timely, appropriate and accurate decisions on claims, providing prompt payment of benefits, and helping injured workers return to gainful work as early as is feasible.

The mission of the Department of Labor is to foster, promote and develop the welfare of the wage earners, job seekers and retirees of the United States; improve working conditions; advance opportunities for profitable employment, and assure work-related benefits and rights.