Chronic Pain Patients to Benefit as Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Reexamines Opioid Prescription Guidelines

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Washington, DC (April 16, 2019) — In 2016, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued prescribing guidelines to reduce the risks associated with long-term opioid therapy for chronic pain. What followed, however, was widespread misapplication by physicians, as well as insurers, government agencies, pharmacy chains, and health employers, which invoked the guideline as grounds to involuntarily reduce — and in some cases cease — opioid treatment for many chronic pain patients.

AEI Resident Scholar Sally Satel, M.D., in conjunction with other physicians and members of Health Professionals for Patients in Pain (HP3), explained in an open letter to the CDC: “Patients with chronic pain, who are stable and, arguably, benefiting from long-term opioids, face draconian and often rapid involuntary dose reductions. Often, alternative pain care options are not offered, not covered by insurers, or not accessible. Others are pushed to undergo addiction treatment or invasive procedures (such as spinal injections), regardless of whether clinically appropriate.” Consequences have included intensification of pain, relapse into a disabled state, and even suicide.

Last week, Dr. Satel and her HP3 coauthors were delighted to receive a letter from the CDC in response to their open letter. In his reply, CDC Director Robert R. Redfield assured Dr. Satel and her coauthors — and, by extension, all prescribers, pharmacists, administrators, and regulators — that “the Guideline does not endorse mandated or abrupt dose reduction or discontinuation as these actions can result in patient harm.”

“We are so grateful to the CDC for its essential clarification,” said Dr. Satel. “Now it’s time for the federal, state, and nongovernmental institutions that have invoked the CDC’s authority to push [for] . . . traumatic changes . . . to reverse course.”

The full open letter from HP3 to the CDC is available here.

The full response from the CDC is available here.

Dr. Satel’s Wall Street Journal article on the CDC’s guideline reassessment is available here.