Measurement of adherence to clinical practice guidelines for opioid therapy for chronic pain.
The safe and effective prescribing of opioid therapy for chronic pain has become a significant health care priority over the last several years. Substantial research has focused on patient-oriented interventions toward preventing problematic use, but provider and system level factors may be more amenable to quality improvement approaches. Here, we outline administrative data-based metrics that are intended to assess adherence to key practices outlined in the 2010 Department of Veterans Affairs/Department of Defense Clinical Practice Guideline for management of opioid therapy for chronic pain. In addition to the metrics, we discuss their development process, which was done in consultation with experts on chronic opioid therapy.
Center for Health Care Evaluation, VA Palo Alto Health Care System, 795 Willow Road (152-MPD), Menlo Park, CA 94025 USA ; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, 401 Quarry Road, Stanford, CA 94305 USA.
Amanda M
AM
Midboe
Eleanor T
ET
Lewis
Meenah C
MC
Paik
Rollin M
RM
Gallagher
Jack M
JM
Rosenberg
Francine
F
Goodman
Robert D
RD
Kerns
William C
WC
Becker
Jodie A
JA
Trafton
Clinical practice guideline; Opioid; Pain management; Performance measurement; Process metrics; Quality improvement