America’s opioid drug epidemic has struck hard in Michigan. But now, a team from the University of Michigan is striking back at a key factor: opioid prescriptions for patients before and after surgery.
With a new $1.4 million per year, five-year grant from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, and equal funding from U-M, the team today launches an initiative to help medical teams across the state care for surgical patients’ pain -- without setting those patients up for new chronic opioid use, misuse and addiction.
Named the Michigan Opioid Prescribing Engagement Network, or Michigan-OPEN, the effort aims to cut in half both the amount of opioids prescribed to Michigan surgical patients, and the number of patients who still use opioids many months after surgery.
