February 15, 20106:02 am
posted by Aric Thorpe, MHR
80% of chronic opioid therapy patients non-adherent
According to a presentation at the American Academy of Pain Medicine, almost 80% of chronic opioid therapy patients were non-adherent to treatment. Many of the patients indicated lower or higher than expected opioid levels in their urine upon testing; additionally, illicit and unprescribed drugs were found in some opioid therapy patients. Findings indicated that non-adherence in opioid therapy patients resulted in greater frequency and duration of hospital stays and ultimately greater annual costs of healthcare. Harry L. Leider, MD, of Ameritox, a drug monitoring company in Baltimore, commenting, said, “Likely nonadherent patients were predicted to be 14% more expensive than adherent patients and had significantly more hospital days.” Click here to read an article from Medpage Today that discusses this study more.
