Opioids stop pain quickly. They're consistently reimbursed, and few alternatives are as effective or affordable.

Despite their effectiveness, long-term opioid use can often lead to dependence and misuse. Many organizations have worked to rethink their pain management practices and their reliance on opioids in their protocols.

Source: Centers for Disease Control

75

of the nearly 92,000 drug overdose deaths in 2020 involved an opioid

18

Prescription opioids were involved in nearly 18% of all opioid overdose deaths in 2020, with over a 16% increase in prescription opioid-involved death rates from 2019 to 2020.

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Changing the pain paradigm

See how UK HealthCare is tackling the opioid crisis by starting a new conversation with patients about a personalized pain management plan.

 

 

Adult patient

Providing comprehensive pain management

Connecting patients with chronic pain to care during a pandemic

Vizient partnered with subject matter experts to develop a guide for establishing a comprehensive pain management program that includes opioid stewardship. The guide presents key elements and attributes of a program as it progresses from a basic to mature level.

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Treating opioid use disorder through patient treatment plans

BJC HealthCare is engaging patients and linking with community partners to create tailored plans for patients, including pairing them with behavioral health resources and medication assistance treatment.

Podcast series featuring healthcare leaders

Our podcast series features leaders from leading health systems discussing topics impacting providers across the country. Access our podcast channels to learn more.

Using data to reduce opioids in orthopedics

Lehigh Valley Health Network recently participated in a Vizient Performance Improvement Collaborative that reduced the use of opioids in orthopedic surgery. The key to success was convincing clinicians to join the initiative and fully participate. On this podcast, you’ll hear from two leaders at Lehigh Valley who share how they used data to accomplish this goal.

Mind the gap! Medication safety in 2022 – Part 1

On this two-part series of our award-winning podcast, we discuss medication safety and how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted it. Leading pharmacy experts join Tom Villanueva, Senior Principal, Clinical Operations and Quality at Vizient, in this series to examine how health care organizations can manage scarce resources and keep medication safety in the forefront of their care.

 

The story behind the stories

For every successful partnership we’ve built, there’s another story at the heart of it. It’s the four pillars of everything we do—insights, innovations, speed to value, and collaboration.

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