Effect of a Statewide Opioid Monitoring Program on a Community Emergency Department Opioid Prescribing Patterns

Purpose of the Study: The purpose of this study was to determine if emergency physician’s opioid prescribing habits in three emergency departments of a three hospital community healthcare system changed following the revision of a state Prescription Monitoring Program (NJPMP). Materials Methods: retrospective time series analysis A random sample of 50 days was be chosen from the year period prior to revised NJPMP) and a random sample of 50 days was chosen from the following two years. Data Retrospective data from an emergency department information system. Setting: Three average number of day’s supply decreased from a mean of 4.512 (StDev 0.736) in the pre-intervention period to a mean of 3.845 (StDev 0.758 in the post intervention period. This difference was highly significant (p < 0.001). There was a statistically significant decrease in all three measures when the pre-prescription monitoring program period and the post-prescription monitoring period were compared. This difference is evidence of a strong temporal relationship to the NJ-RX program, but does not prove causality. Other factors may have contributed. However, the temporal relationship is very statistically powerful and was certainly in the intended direction of effect of the reduction in opiate prescriptions. Conclusions: There was a statistically significant decrease in all three measures when the pre-prescription monitoring program period and the post-prescription monitoring period suggests that the monitoring system was likely causal.