Pa. legislators: Opioids 'overprescribed' for people on workers' comp

Chambersburg Public Opinion

HARRISBURG – Opioid medications are popular in treating work-related injuries in Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania legislators want to address the prescribing of opioids in the Workers' Compensation system.

“We care deeply about the safety and well-being of Pennsylvania families and workers adversely affected by the overprescribing of opioids,” House Speaker Mike Turzai said. “We need to stop addiction before it begins.”

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A 2017 study of 26 states’ workers' compensation systems by the Workers’ Compensation Research Institute found:

Pennsylvania had the second highest number of opioids per claim, 87 percent higher than the median state.
Pennsylvania had second highest number of opioid pills per claim, at 258 pills.
It also was No. 2 in opioid dosage per pill, at 10.2 mg.

House Labor and Industry Chairman Rob Kauffman, R-Chambersburg; Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Lehigh; and Turzai, R-Pittsburgh, on Tuesday announced legislation (House Bill 18 and Senate Bill 936) to combat “the significant overprescribing of drugs” to Pennsylvanians in the state workers’ compensation system.

State Rep. Rob Kauffman, R-Chambersburg, represents Pennsylvania's 89th Legislative District.

"Pennsylvania is number two in the nation in opiod prescribing within our workers compensation system," Kauffman said. "This is not acceptable to the workers or the employers of Pennsylvania. This legislation is designed to make certain that injured workers don't continue to become casualties in Pennsylvania’s opiod epidemic."

Workers’ compensation is a no-fault insurance that employers are required to pay. Employees disabled from a work-related injury or disease are compensated from the fund for lost wages and medical treatment.

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Pennsylvania’s workers' compensation system paid claims of $2.9 billion in 2016. More than 159,000 people, including 835 from Franklin County, filed claims in 2016.

“Drugs that were once seen as great treatment options for people experiencing pain have now created an epidemic of addiction across the Commonwealth,” Turzai said.

About 13 Pennsylvanians die every day of a drug overdose, Turzai said. Overdose kills more people in the state than car accidents.

Opioid epidemic and drug abuse concept with a heroin syringe or other narcotic substances next to a bottle of prescription opioids. Oxycodone is the generic name for a range of opioid painkillers

Mackenzie authored HB 18, which would require the Department of Labor and Industry to adopt an official state list of medicines, known as formularies, that may be prescribed for those within the WC program.

“The new lists, created by doctors, could reduce over-prescription of opioid painkillers by setting evidence-based standards for the medication that can be prescribed for a workers’ compensation patient,” said Mackenzie. “The lists of permissible medication would be continually updated and made available online for the general public to view.”

Ohio started a drug formulary for its workers’ compensation program in 2011. By the end of 2016, it experienced a 51 percent reduction in the number of injured workers receiving an opioid prescription. The number of injured workers in the system who were dependent on opioids also was cut almost in half, from 8,029 to 4,101.

Twenty-one states, including New York and California, have made similar changes to the lists that are used in most types of health care payment systems, including Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program and group health insurance.

Jim Hook, 717-262-4759