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Non-steroidal anti-inflammatories, or NSAIDs, have supplanted opioids as the most common therapeutic drug group prescribed to injured workers in California, according to a new California Workers’ Compensation Institute study.
The study also finds that payment data show that both dermatological medications and anticonvulsants now rank ahead of opioids in terms of total reimbursements.
The study uses data from 5.75 million prescriptions dispensed to California injured workers from 2009 to June 2018. CWCI analysts examined changes in the prescription and payment distributions among therapeutic drug groups, identified trends in the use of generics and determined average amounts paid for drugs within each drug group over the past decade.
The results show that efforts to curb inappropriate use of opioids are continuing to have an effect, as opioids fell to 18.0 percent of the prescriptions filled in the first half of 2018, down from 20.2 percent in 2017 and down from 30.5 percent a decade ago.
