UnitedHealthcare Helps Confront the Opioid Epidemic with New Oral Health Public Toolkit
February 19 2020 - 9:01AM
Business Wire
Toolkit is part of larger initiative, which
is reducing reliance on opioids in connection to dental
care
UnitedHealthcare has expanded its efforts to help address the
connection between dental care and the opioid epidemic, introducing
a public toolkit with information to help support oral health care
professionals and patients, especially after wisdom-teeth removal
for teens and young adults.
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the full release here:
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The toolkit — available here — provides
information for oral health professionals and all consumers,
including an educational flyer with commonly asked questions
related to opioids and a checklist to help people better understand
pain-management options before and after wisdom-teeth removal.
The toolkit builds upon a companywide approach to address the
epidemic from all angles, including dental care. This comprehensive
approach includes a pharmacy policy, outreach to dental health
professionals and plan participants, along with TV and radio public
service announcements (PSAs).
Taken together, these efforts to date have resulted in an 89%
reduction in opioid prescriptions above federal guidelines written
by network dental health professionals for UnitedHealthcare dental
plan participants age 19 and under.1
“Confronting the opioid epidemic requires a comprehensive
approach involving multiple stakeholders across the health care
system, including addressing the often overlooked connection with
dental care,” said Tom Wiffler, CEO, UnitedHealthcare Specialty
Benefits. “Working together, these initiatives are making a
meaningful difference in helping address this important national
public health issue.”
The opioid epidemic causes more than 130 overdose deaths2 each
day, while the economic cost exceeds $500 billion annually,
according to a study from The Council of Economic Advisors. In
addition, oral health professionals write 12% of all opioid
prescriptions, including more than 54% of opioid prescriptions for
adolescents3 – an age group especially vulnerable to
addiction.4
UnitedHealthcare’s comprehensive approach to combating opioid
use related to dental care also includes:
- Pharmacy Policy: The policy change — enacted in
late 2018 — capped at three days and fewer than 50 morphine
milligram equivalents per day for all first-time opioid
prescriptions written by UnitedHealthcare network dental health
professionals for people age 19 and under, as recommended by the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Among the first
dental plans to take this step, the policy was designed to help
limit access to often unnecessarily large prescriptions and help
facilitate patient engagement to reduce the risk of misuse.
- Dental Health Professionals: Network dental health
professionals identified as consistently prescribing opioids above
CDC guidelines — as measured by the number of days per
supply and/or morphine milligram equivalents per day — will
receive information about their status and access to the
pain-management toolkit to share with patients. Following similar
UnitedHealthcare outreach last year to more than 2,800 oral health
professionals, prescribing patterns improved by 12%.1
- Dental Plan Participants: Nearly 72,000 UnitedHealthcare
dental plan participants with dependents ages 16 to 22 received
information by e-mail about the risks associated with opioids,
specifically in connection with wisdom-tooth extractions. More than
two-thirds (70%) of wisdom-tooth extractions for people ages 16 to
22 result in at least one opioid prescription,3 so providing this
information is designed to help parents and young people better
identify pain management alternatives and strategies to manage the
frequency of use, dosage and proper disposal of unused opioids. A
recent study from Stanford University found that teens and young
adults can end up in a battle with opioid addiction following
wisdom-teeth removal.
- Public Service Announcements (PSAs): TV and radio PSAs
— in collaboration with Shatterproof, a national nonprofit
organization dedicated to reversing the addiction crisis in the
United States — last year aired on nearly 400 stations
across the country, helping parents and health professionals
understand the connection between oral health and the opioid
epidemic.
UnitedHealthcare, a UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) company, is
also collaborating with health care providers and communities and
using powerful data and analytics to prevent opioid misuse and
addiction, tailor ways to treat people who are addicted and support
long-term recovery.
Learn more about what UnitedHealthcare is doing to address the
opioid epidemic.
About UnitedHealthcare
UnitedHealthcare is dedicated to helping people live healthier
lives and making the health system work better for everyone by
simplifying the health care experience, meeting consumer health and
wellness needs, and sustaining trusted relationships with care
providers. In the United States, UnitedHealthcare offers the full
spectrum of health benefit programs for individuals, employers, and
Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, and contracts directly with
more than 1.3 million physicians and care professionals, and 6,500
hospitals and other care facilities nationwide. The company also
provides health benefits and delivers care to people through owned
and operated health care facilities in South America.
UnitedHealthcare is one of the businesses of UnitedHealth Group
(NYSE: UNH), a diversified health care company. For more
information, visit UnitedHealthcare at www.uhc.com or follow @UHC
on Twitter.
1 UnitedHealthcare pharmacy claims analysis, 2019 2 2 CDC/NCHS,
National Vital Statistics System, Mortality. CDC Wonder, Atlanta,
GA: US Department of Health and Human Services, CDC; 2018.
https://www.drugabuse.gov/drugs-abuse/opioids/opioid-overdose-crisis
3 UnitedHealthcare pharmacy claims analysis representing more than
3 million claims, 2019 4 Pediatrics February 2019, 143 (2)
e20182752; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2018-2752
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Will Shanley UnitedHealthcare 714-204-8005
will.shanley@uhc.com
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