Strategies for Improving the Quality of Care, Enhancing Patient Safety, and Reducing Costs to the System and Individual

Quality improvement and safety safeguards are integral components of healthcare interventions in the opioid crisis. CDC outlines quality improvement measures that apply to the opioid addiction crisis. Opioid prescription is one quality improvement area that can help contain the epidemic. Opioid analgesics should only be prescribed for pain management when other drug options for pain management are not warranted. All new opioid prescriptions should be admitted into the patient drug monitoring programs to enhance contact between them and their caregivers. This strategy will improve surveillance efforts on the patients and help identify them.

The availability of an antidote at the emergency departments and the primary level of care is another quality enhancement measure and safety safeguard for vulnerable patients. Antidote medications such as naloxone maintain significance in treating overdose symptoms. These medications reduce the mortality risks of patients presenting with overdose symptoms. Enhancing their accessibility to patients remains one of the safety safeguard measures. The majority of the states in the U.S. allow the dispensing and prescription of this medication to family members and friends of individuals at risk for opioid overdose. This measure has ensured the protection of many American lives that would have otherwise been lost due to delays in accessing this medication.

Healthcare providers play a role in enhancing the safety of patients at risk for overdose. These are patients with chronic pain requiring regular prescription opioid analgesics. Their role in this regard is to intensify preventive approaches to vulnerable patients. This can be achieved by comprehensive education on the patients, highlighting the significance of rational use of these medications to prevent overdose. They should be aware that overdose is a safety and quality compromise in healthcare and fetches economic considerations to them and the healthcare system. Healthcare providers should also maintain vigilance and proceed with concertedness in treating overdose symptoms and managing patients with addiction. These measures may enhance the quality of care during the opioid crisis and the effectiveness of interventions against the epidemic. These measures will also promote the safety of the patients by ensuring no harm befalls them and considerably lower the cost of treating them. Rizk et al. (2019) reinforce the need for providers’ stewardship in curtailing the harmful effects of the opioid crisis and opine that providers maintain vitality in their preventive and treatment roles during the opioid epidemic. Their excellence in their caring roles will save many lives and the country billions of dollars in healthcare costs.

Benchmark data on the quality of care, safety measures, and costs of the system can be obtained from the CDC and HHS websites. These websites give full accounts of quality measures implemented by various states and the government and their effectiveness in containing the epidemic. Data contained in these websites informs on the current state of the epidemic and measures taken so far to contain it. Information from these websites can inform future interventions and policy development to better current interventions and intensify preventive approaches in the opioid addiction crisis.

Conclusion

As the U.S. continues to struggle with the opioid crisis, details on the toll the crisis has taken on the quality of care, safety measures on patients, and costs of care continue to emerge. The opioid addiction crisis has resulted in compromises in the quality and safety safeguard measures in healthcare with resultant increases in costs. The healthcare burden of the opioid crisis remains high, with the economic burden even greater. Healthcare interventions to uphold quality and safety amidst this epidemic have been successful, with many lives saved through policies and practice standards that give provisions for prevention and treatment.

References

Florence, C., Luo, F., & Rice, K. (2021). The economic burden of opioid use disorder and fatal opioid overdose in the United States, 2017. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 218, 108350. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2020.108350