Opioid epidemic: Non-opioid pain therapy would help fight opioid crisis
Inadequate access to non-opioid pain management therapies leaves providers without the full set of tools to provide a non-addictive option to millions of patients, writes clinical pharmacist Sterling Elliott.
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In Dr. Elisha Peterson’s recent letter to the editor, she asserts that inadequate pain management training for physicians in medical school worsens the opioid addiction crisis.
While any gap in training leaves physicians without the necessary experience to best care for patients in pain, we must also acknowledge that inadequate access to non-opioid pain management therapies leaves providers without the full set of tools to provide a non-addictive option to the millions of patients managing acute pain after an outpatient surgical procedure each year.
The result: eye-popping quantities of opioid prescriptions. In 2020, there were more than 5 million opioid prescriptions in Illinois alone, enough for more than 40% of residents. If that needs more context, it’s enough opioids to fill every seat in all four major sport stadiums here in Chicago 38 times over.
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That’s because federal reimbursement policy continues to incentivize the use of opioids as a first-line treatment, despite guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommending non-opioids as a primary option with a focus on patients’ functional capabilities.
Last year, Congress passed the Non-Opioids Prevent Addiction in the Nation (NOPAIN) Act to expand access to these non-addictive pain management options. Yet, the policy is not slated to go into effect until 2025, prolonging unnecessary opioid prescribing for another two years.
As a clinical pharmacist who specializes in the use of medications related to surgery, I know that when providers do not have access to non-opioids, we are not taking advantage of all the tools at our disposal to fight the opioid epidemic.
The Biden administration must implement the NOPAIN Act in 2024 — before the deadline — to give providers the access they need to protect patients from preventable opioid addiction or overdose.
Sterling Elliott, clinical pharmacist and assistant professor of orthopedic surgery, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Say yes to ranked choice voting
Thank you for publishing state Rep. Kam Buckner’s op-ed on how ranked choice voting would benefit Illinois. Buckner makes sense.
Ranked choice voting would force candidates to concentrate on the issues. It is the perfect method for voting when there are numerous candidates, especially in a primary. Candidates would be more likely to keep the campaign messages positive, as it would be impossible to run negative ads against all opponents. It would help us move away from extremism in both parties, and politics would be much more nuanced, as most issues have more than two sides.
I was delighted to see that bills are starting to appear to make this change happen. For years, I have talked to my state representatives about this matter, to no avail. Maybe Illinois can add this to its list of reforms to make politics more honest and transparent in the wake of the ComEd guilty verdicts.
Jan Goldberg, Riverside