27 Dec Opioid Emergencies Increased Almost 100% in Some States

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Claudia Steiner, M.D., MPH.
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
Rockville, MD

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has a longstanding project and partnership, The Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP, pronounced “H-Cup”). HCUP is a family of health care databases and related software tools and products developed through a Federal-State-Industry partnership. HCUP databases bring together the data collection efforts of State data organizations, hospital associations, and private data organizations (HCUP Partners) and the Federal government to create a national information resource of encounter-level health care data. HCUP includes the largest collection of longitudinal hospital care data in the United States, with all-payer, encounter-level information. These databases enable research on a broad range of health policy issues, including cost and quality of health services, medical practice patterns, access to health care programs, and outcomes of treatments at the national, State, and local market levels.

The HCUP Partners recognized the urgency of providing descriptive statistics to help inform the growing opioid epidemic in the U.S., and therefore agreed to supporting this statistical brief as well as the Opioid-Related Hospital Use path on Fast Stats: http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/faststats/landing.jsp

MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings?

Response: The main findings for the stat brief are:
• Between 2005 and 2014, the national rate of opioid-related inpatient stays increased 64.1 percent and the national rate of opioid-related emergency department (ED) visits increased 99.4 percent.
• Across States, the rate of opioid-related inpatient stays in 2014 varied eight-fold.
• The highest hospitalization rates occurred in Maryland (362.1 stays per 100,000 population), the District of Columbia (339.0), and New York (335.3).
• The lowest rates occurred in Iowa (44.2), Nebraska (46.1), and Texas (70.9).
• The rate of opioid-related inpatient stays increased in most States between 2009 and 2014, with the greatest increases in Oregon (88.9 percent), North Carolina (81.8 percent), and South Dakota (74.1 percent).
• Across States, the rate of opioid-related ED visits in 2014 varied 14-fold.
• The highest rates occurred in Massachusetts (441.6 visits per 100,000 population), Rhode Island (288.6), and Maryland (288.4).
• The lowest rates occurred in Iowa (31.1), Nebraska (39.9), and South Dakota (47.1).
• The rate of opioid-related ED visits increased in almost all States between 2009 and 2014, more than doubling in Ohio (119.1 percent), South Dakota (106.4 percent), and Minnesota (102.3 percent).

MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report?

Response: Nationally, the rate of opioid-related inpatient stays and visits to the ED have increased substantially. However, there is great variation across the states; the rates vary by eight-fold, and while most states continue to experience an increase in the rates of inpatient stays and ED visits, a handful are experiencing a decline in rates.

MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?

Response: We hope that states and researchers will use our descriptive data to look further into state efforts aimed at intervening into the opioid epidemic and evaluate the outcomes of those efforts through use of the state inpatient and ED data made available by the state partners.

MedicalResearch.com: Is there anything else you would like to add?

Response: No disclosures. For more detailed information, please take a look at HCUP Fast Stats Opioid-Related Hospital Use Path:
http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/faststats/landing.jsp

MedicalResearch.com: Thank you for your contribution to the MedicalResearch.com community.

Citation:

Opioid-Related Inpatient Stays and Emergency Department Visits by State, 2009–2014 Audrey J. Weiss, Ph.D., Anne Elixhauser, Ph.D., Marguerite L. Barrett, M.S., Claudia A. Steiner, M.D., M.P.H., Molly K. Bailey, and Lauren O’Malley
AHRQ
HEALTHCARE COST AND UTILIZATION PROJECT

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Claudia Steiner (2016). Opioid Emergencies Increased Almost 100% in Some States https://medicalresearch.com

Last Updated on December 27, 2016 by Marie Benz MD FAAD