Prescription painkillers and more specifically, opioids, are a growing concern in the United States for insurance carriers in the automobile no-fault industry. Not only are the costs for these prescriptions rising, the incidence of overdose and addiction is becoming an increasingly distressing concern for adjusters involved in no-fault claims.
General practice physicians are prescribing painkillers at an alarmingly high rate and may not be taking the proper precautions to ensure these prescriptions are appropriate and medically necessary. Property Casualty 360 reports that 80 percent of these prescriptions are coming from less than one-quarter of those medical professionals qualified to write prescriptions in the United States. Not only are prescription drugs and their correlation to addiction an alarming issue, but Bloomberg reports that more than 47,000 deaths occur each year in the United States due to drug overdoses. Greater than half of these cases involve prescription drugs, with a majority of those drugs being opioids. There is no nation-wide system for monitoring these prescriptions or those likely to abuse them, which further compounds the issue.
The misuse of opioids among no-fault claimants carries a significant cost burden for insurance carriers. Property Casualty 360 states that the yearly cost of drugs for those who abuse prescriptions is more than quadruple the yearly cost for those who follow the appropriate prescription recommendations and do not misuse painkillers. Furthermore, the general cost of health care for prescription drug abusers runs over six times more than those following the appropriate painkiller regimen.
While there are currently no viable alternatives to opioids for claimants with injuries requiring painkillers, Bloomberg has highlighted a study that centers on a substance that could reduce the need for prescribed opioids. Scientists in Germany and the United States have collaborated on this discovery and have uncovered an amalgam that alleviates pain without disrupting respiration; this link between respiration distress and opioids is frequently the cause of prescription drug deaths. Additional side effects such as constipation were decreased during this study as well. This compound is still being researched and there is hope that trials may be held with human subjects in the future.
In the meantime, insurance carriers can utilize alternative methods for reducing costs associated with prescription opioids within no-fault claims. The most efficient way to alleviate the concerns surrounding opioid abuse among claimants involves partnering with a Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) such as Northwood. The use of analytics combined with daily tracking and monitoring of no-fault claims provides adjusters with tools to become proactive when it comes to identifying potential abuse of prescription drugs. With this thorough analysis, adjusters are able to mitigate these situations and assist in reducing claimant misuse of drugs or even claimant overdoses. As these systems are implemented within insurance carriers, they assist in reducing costs associated with no-fault claims and claimant prescriptions. For more information on these cost savings, please contact a representative from Northwood at your convenience.
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