CDC issues draft voluntary guidelines for prescribing opioids for chronic pain

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued draft guidelines for the prescribing of opioids for pain on December 14 in the Federal Register. The guidelines are meant to reduce overprescribing of opioids, which the CDC says should not be used for chronic pain. They are meant for primary care providers (family physicians or internists) who are treating patients for chronic pain in an outpatient setting. They do not apply to methadone or buprenorphine prescribing for the treatment of opioid use disorders. They also do not apply to chronic pain related to palliative or end‐of‐life care, or to treatment of patients with active cancer. Adherence to the guidelines is voluntary.
Source: The Brown University Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology Update - Category: Psychiatry Tags: News Source Type: research