For the past several years, ICSI has led multiple efforts to combat the opioid epidemic. These initiatives are designed with the goal of enhancing safe prescribing practices for pain management, prevention of transition from acute to chronic opioid use, and reducing extra pills in the community. Our work is based on the most current evidence, combined with the expertise of our multidisciplinary work groups and includes:
ICSI’s Guidelines address both the management of pain and the use of opioids. Existing Guidelines include:
Starting in 2024, providers across MN received reports detailing their opioid prescribing, for acute, post-acute, and chronic pain from DHS. The Opioid Prescribing Improvement Guide will help individual providers and organizations walk through a step by step guide to improve opioid prescribing. Learn more about the Opioid Prescribing Improvement Guide here.
Surgeons from across the state participated in the work of the MN Health Collaborative to reduce the amount of opioids prescribed at postoperative discharge. Using existing literature, community data, and clinician expertise, the working group has identified procedure-specific benchmarks for postoperative opioid prescribing. The group encourages patient-centered, procedure-specific MME goals that acknowledge varying needs of pain management for different surgical procedures. Best practices and learnings from this project will be available to the healthcare community in our opioid postoperative prescribing toolkit, created in partnership with MN DHS.
This package was created by organizations in the MN Health Collaborative to help front line providers with common issues in opioid management. The package includes algorithms to screen, diagnose, and manage opioid use disorders as well as frequently asked questions (FAQ’s) on opioid tapering. Download the De-mystifying Opioids Package here.
Organizations in the MN Health Collaborative focused efforts on reducing the amount of opioids prescribed for acute nonsurgical pain. This work, which began in 2017, focused on prescribing standards for first opioid prescriptions in ambulatory settings including clinics, urgent care, emergency rooms, and dentistry. Providers are recommended to start with non-opioid options, and if opioids are given, prescribe no more than 100 morphine milligram equivalents (MME) total in the initial prescription, especially for opioid-naïve patients.
The disposal working group of the MN Health Collaborative created a Call to Action in the fall of 2017 to elevate provider and patient awareness about the importance of disposal and the methods available for outpatient disposal. Follow this link to read the Call to Action.
Best Practice Hub: Coming late 2024
