The dangers of narcotic misuse resulting in death and addiction constitute a top priority public health problem in the United States and are shared by the workers’ compensation community. This study will give public officials, employers, worker advocates, and other stakeholders the ability to examine interstate variations and trends in the use of narcotics and prescribing patterns of pain medications in the workers’ compensation system.  

The study is based on approximately 264,000 workers’ compensation claims and 1.5 million prescriptions associated with those claims from 25 states. The claims represent injuries arising from October 1, 2007, to September 30, 2010, with prescriptions filled up to March 31, 2012. The underlying data reflect an average of 24 months of experience.  

The following states are included in this study: Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Interstate Variations in Use of Narcotics, 2nd Edition. Vennela Thumula, Dongchun Wang, and Te-Chun Liu. May 2014. WC-14-18.

Copyright: WCRI