Opioid Treatment Guidelines and Other Information for Healthcare Professionals and Patients Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

For Practitioners

• CDC Checklist for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain
  For primary care providers treating adults (18+) with chronic pain ≥ 3 months, excluding cancer, palliative, and end-of-life care
• CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain Factsheet
  Determining when to initiate or continue opioids for chronic pain
• CDC Guideline for Non-opioid Treatments for Chronic Pain
  Patients with pain should receive treatment that provides the greatest benefit. Opioids are not always the first-line therapy for chronic pain outside of active cancer treatment, palliative care, and end-of-life care.
• CDC Publication for Assessing Benefits and Harms of Opioid Therapy
  The CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Painprovides up-to-date guidance on prescribing and weighing the risks and benefits of opioids.
• CDC Publication for Calculating Total Daily Dose of Opioids for Safer Dosage
  Why is it important to calculate the total daily dosage of opioids? Patients prescribed higher opioid dosages are at higher risk of overdose death.

Written Treatment Plan for Opioid Prescribing

Effective April 1, 2018, a written treatment plan in the patient’s medical record is required if a practitioner prescribes opioids for pain that has lasted for more than three months or past the time of normal tissue healing.

• Opioid Treatment Plan Notification Letter, February 2019 (PDF)

Information for Patients

• Opioid Basics
  Information regarding prescription opioids, including fentanyl and heroin, overdose prevention and commonly used terms can be found at the above link.
• Reports
  Opiod Poisoning, Overdose and Prevention 2015 Report to the Governor and NYS Legislature

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