Killing claimants.

Over the last ten years, more than two thousand claimants have died as a result of drugs received as part of their “treatment’ for their occupational injury or illness.
That’s the conclusion reached by Peter Rousmaniere in his latest column at Risk and Insurance – and if anything, his estimate is on the low side. This isn’t a criticism, as it is evident Peter is doing his best to avoid sensationalizing an issue that needs no exaggeration.
Peter bases his estimate on several different data sources, including a just-published article authored by Gary Franklin, MD, Medical Director of Washington’s state workers comp fund. By my calculation, both Peter and Dr Franklin’s estimates seem low.
A back-of-the-envelope calculation arrives at this figure – there were about 1750 narcotic-related workers comp deaths across the country in 2009 alone.
I base that figure on two data points.
1. Washington’s research – about 35 claimant deaths in 2009 appeared narcotics-related.
2. Washington has about 2 percent of the nation’s population.
Washington State has addressed the issue, and their solution has had a remarkable impact. This from the article by Franklin et al:
“By the third quarter 2009, there was a substantial decline in the mean daily long-acting opioid prescription dose among workers’ compensation claimants in WA, followed by a dramatic fall in unintentional poisoning deaths related to prescription opioids in this population in 2010.”
That’s one state out of fifty.
What does this mean for you?
Do NOT wait for your state officials to take action.
Identify claimants at high risk for addiction. Screen them and get them into treatment.
Identify doctors prescribing more than 120 morphine equivalents per day to claimants. Find out why, and if appropriate, take immediate steps to stop sending claimants to them.