CMS Addresses Opioid Misuse with Focused Strategy

Many claimants with Medicare and Medicaid insurance coverage have experienced opioid use disorder and addiction from injuries and diseases. The patients, families, healthcare industry, claim adjusters, and attorneys struggle to create meaningful settlements due to lack of necessary strategies.

There is significant evidence showing the risks of misuse, highlighted by the recently published guidance from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has recently published their Opioid Misuse Strategy as guidance for cases other than cancer and hospice patients. The key areas of priority include:

1. Implementation of more effective individual and population-based strategies to reduce the risk of opioid use disorders, overdoses, inappropriate prescribing, and drug diversion;

2. Expansion of naloxone use, distribution, and access, when clinically appropriate;

3. Expansion of screening, diagnosis, and treatment of opioid use disorders, with an emphasis on increasing access to medication-assisted treatment; and

4. Increasing the use of evidence-based practices for acute and chronic pain management.

For those claim and legal practitioners interested in learning more about the specific methods and strategies approved by CMS and the CDC, please click here >>