Outcomes From a Decade of Risk Evaluation Mitigation Strategies and Safe Opioid Prescribing Education

Abstract

Opioid overdose deaths are a major public health problem. Deaths from illicit drug use remain high, but mitigation strategies that provide safety measures and guidance to prescribers have resulted in a 50% decrease in the number of opioid prescriptions. The importance and impact of a decade-long process to develop and refine safety mechanisms and implement treatment guidelines are helping to break the cycle of prescription overdose deaths. The major mitigation outcomes as well as remaining barriers that have shifted prescription use to illicit use resulting in ongoing high numbers of overdose deaths are discussed.