1. Physician Renewal of Chronically Prescribed Controlled Substances Based on Urine Drug Test Results
- Author
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Fatima Hosain, Andrew K. Chang, Josephine Lee, Ravneet Bhullar, and Ashar Ata
- Subjects
Drug ,Male ,medicine.medical_specialty ,media_common.quotation_subject ,opioid contract ,Urine ,lcsh:Computer applications to medicine. Medical informatics ,Opioid prescribing ,Cohort Studies ,03 medical and health sciences ,Benzodiazepines ,0302 clinical medicine ,Physician prescribing ,Cocaine ,Drug Misuse ,030202 anesthesiology ,Urine toxicology ,medicine ,substance abuse ,Drug test ,Humans ,030212 general & internal medicine ,Practice Patterns, Physicians' ,media_common ,Retrospective Studies ,Original Research ,Community and Home Care ,medicine.diagnostic_test ,Controlled Substances ,business.industry ,Cannabinoids ,lcsh:Public aspects of medicine ,Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health ,urine toxicology ,lcsh:RA1-1270 ,Middle Aged ,medicine.disease ,Substance abuse ,Analgesics, Opioid ,Opioid ,Emergency medicine ,opioid ,lcsh:R858-859.7 ,Female ,opioid prescribing ,business ,medicine.drug - Abstract
Objective: The effect of specific urine drug testing (UDT) results on physician prescribing habits has not been well described. The primary objective was to report renewal rates of chronically prescribed controlled substances based on types of inconsistent UDT results. Methods: We conducted a retrospective chart review over a 5-month period comparing prescription renewals rates for patients with consistent versus inconsistent UDTs. Inconsistent UDTs were defined by prescribed drug not detected or the presence of heroin, cocaine, nonprescribed opioids, nonprescribed benzodiazepines, or marijuana. Results: Of the 474 UDTs reviewed, 214 (45.1%) were inconsistent. The most common findings among inconsistent UDTs, including overlapping results, were prescribed drug not detected (26.8%) and the presence of marijuana (20.7%), nonprescribed opioids (9.9%), and nonprescribed benzodiazepines (6.1%). In contrast, cocaine (5.5%) and heroin (0.4%) were less likely to be found on UDTs for this population. The relative risk (RR) of prescription renewal was 0.64 (95% CI 0.57-0.71) for inconsistent UDTs versus consistent UDTs. Within the inconsistent UDTs, the renewal rates when marijuana (79.6%) or nonprescribed opioids or benzodiazepines (63.6%) were present were much higher than when heroin or cocaine were present (0.0%; P < .001). Patients whose prescribed controlled substance was not detected had a 55.8% renewal rate. Conclusions: Prescription renewal rates were high when patient UDTs contained nonprescribed marijuana, opioids, and benzodiazepines, or when the prescribed drug was not detected. Prescription renewal rates were low when illicit drugs, such as heroin and cocaine, were detected.
- Published
- 2019