Twin Cities Orthopedics cuts patients’ opioid use with new prescription guidelines

Twin Cities Orthopedics launched new prescription guidelines so that now all patients prescribed pain medication will get a “narcotics disposal bag.”

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO)

Minnesota doctors are changing the way they prescribe pain medications in an effort to do their part in the opioid crisis. The Minnesota Department of Health announced last week that the number of opioid overdose deaths was down in 2018 — going from 733 deaths in 2017, down to 607, or a 17 percent reduction. Minnesota hospitals and clinics have managed to significantly reduce the number of pain pills being prescribed.

At Twin Cities Orthopedics, researchers wanted to figure out how to change prescription practices. They began tracking 3,000 patients and their prescriptions in 2017.