Health Group Cuts E.r. Stores Of Dilaudid In Half To Fight Opioid Addiction

CHICAGO - July 26, 2018 - PRLog -- In an effort to fight the opioid epidemic, AMITA Health has reduced the amount of one of the world's most powerful and addictive painkillers stocked in its emergency rooms by 50 percent.

The move is part of the Dilaudid-Free Emergency Department Plan, which seeks to curb addiction by directing physicians to prescribe the painkiller—an intravenous form of hydromorphone—only in cases when it is absolutely necessary for patients, and to try less addictive medications or non-narcotic pain management as a first line of treatment.

"This initiative will benefit patients over the long term and may significantly reduce future addiction," said Carlos Martinez, M.D., an emergency room physician for IEMS (Illinois Emergency Medical Specialists), and president of the medical staff at AMITA Health Adventist Medical Center Bolingbrook.

IEMS provides emergency medical treatment for hospitals within AMITA Health, which is a joint venture of Ascension's Alexian Brothers Health System and Adventist Midwest Health, part of Adventist Health System. Amita Health serves more than 1.2 million Illinois residents.

Production and prescriptions for Dilaudid, which has been shown to be six times more potent than morphine, have been skyrocketing since the late 1990s, playing a major role in the opioid epidemic that claimed more than 42,000 lives in 2016, according to the Center for Disease Control.

Between 1998 and 2013, production quotas for hydromorphone rose from 1,689 pounds to 13,157 pounds, according to a report from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. Prescriptions for the drug rose from 470,000 to 1.83 million during a similar time frame, according to the same report. That's an increase of 289 percent.

IEMS took the lead in reversing that trend in December when it rolled out a program that included special training for emergency room staff, posters that spelled out new tighter policies on opioid use and prescription, and detailed explanations to its patients about why using less addictive forms of pain management was crucial not only to individual health, but the fight against the wider opioid epidemic.

Administrators at the time feared there would be resistance to the new restrictions by hospital staff and patients. But many patients embraced the new approach in light of the widespread media coverage of the dangers of opioid addiction. Staff members were grateful for the change as well.

"This is something providers and nurses wanted," Martinez said. "It's a relief for them because now they're getting support from the organization for when they have to have difficult conversations with patients about what they will be receiving for their pain."

AMITA Health's approach, along with innovative pain management protocols from other Ascension Ministry Markets, will be incorporated into an Ascension-wide implementation plan so that all Ascension ministries can safely and effectively reduce the use of opioids while managing pain.


Supporting documents:

https://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/drug_chem_info/hydromorphone.pdf