CHIME Task Force Produces Free Playbook to Support Opioid Initiatives

ANN ARBOR, MI, May 24, 2019 – The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) Opioid Task Force has published a free playbook to help senior healthcare IT executives, providers and others combat the opioid epidemic. The CHIME Opioid Task Force Playbook includes resources, best practices and real-world examples that illustrate how healthcare IT can be used to reduce unnecessary opioid prescriptions that are a leading cause of opioid addiction and deaths in the U.S.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, more than 130 people in the U.S. die each day from opioid-related drug overdoses. A 2019 report by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development ranked the U.S. top for opioid-related deaths among the 25 countries tracked. In 2017, the U.S. recorded more than 42,000 deaths from opioid overdoses.

“The Opioid Task Force Playbook focuses on what we know best, which is applying healthcare IT to help improve patient outcomes,” said Patricia Lavely, task force co-chair and senior vice president and CIO at Gwinnett Medical Center. “Our task force members identified successful strategies throughout the U.S. and compiled them in a playbook that can be used as a framework to launch and sustain opioid initiatives.”

The playbook includes eight chapters with background, real-world examples, key takeaways and links to resources. The chapters dovetail, beginning with creating an opioid stewardship committee, creating a dashboard, provider education and change management, order set maintenance and care pathways, electronic prescribing of controlled substances, Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMPs), patient education, and community outreach and collaboration. It concludes with results from a survey of EHR companies about their PDMP strategies. It is available on the CHIME website as a flipbook and can be downloaded as a PDF document.

“We have designed the playbook to be easy to use and easy to update with new and innovative IT-based solutions,” said Dave Lehr, task force co-chair and CIO at Anne Arundel Medical Center. “The opioid crisis is constantly changing; we see progress in some areas and new challenges in others. Because the playbook is an electronic document, we can make revisions at any time to reflect the current state of the opioid epidemic.”

The playbook details steps that several different healthcare systems have taken to reduce opioid prescribing by physicians, which lessens or eliminates patients’ exposure to the drugs and reduces the number of pills that might be used illicitly or stolen. Recently the amount of prescribed opioids has declined in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But fentanyl, a potent synthetic opioid that can be manufactured clandestinely, is on the rise and may require different approaches to help those at risk of addiction.

The playbook is one of several educational programs launched by the Opioid Task Force since its inception in January 2018. Other resources include an ongoing webinar series, public policy outreach and the CHIME Opioid Health IT Action Center, which is under development. “The playbook illustrates the passion and commitment of our task force members,” noted Ed Kopetsky, founding task force co-chair and CIO of Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford and Stanford Children’s Health. “We are dedicated to using our experience and expertise to make a difference. The opioid crisis is an immense challenge, but by sharing and learning from each other we can help turn the tide.”

The CHIME Opioid Task Force Playbook is available for free here. For more information about the CHIME Opioid Task Force, go here.

The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) is an executive organization dedicated to serving chief information officers (CIOs), chief medical information officers (CMIOs), chief nursing information officers (CNIOs) and other senior healthcare IT leaders. With more than 2,900 members in 51 countries and over 150 healthcare IT business partners and professional services firms, CHIME provides a highly interactive, trusted environment enabling senior professional and industry leaders to collaborate; exchange best practices; address professional development needs; and advocate the effective use of information management to improve the health and care in the communities they serve. For more information, please visit chimecentral.org.

Candace Stuart

Director of Communications and Public Relations, CHIME

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