Chief Quality Officer Michael Kanter, MD, Shares How Medical Groups Can Reduce Opioids Prescribing

In 2010, the Southern California Permanente Medical Group (SCPMG) launched a comprehensive initiative to address the high use of prescription opioids among Kaiser Permanente patients in Southern California. That initiative resulted in a 30 percent reduction in opioids prescription, and steps to replicate the initiative were highlighted in a recent Fierce Healthcare interview with Michael Kanter, MD, SCPMG’s medical director of Quality and Clinical Analysis.

In the article, Dr. Kanter, who also serves as the national chief quality officer of The Permanente Federation, talks about the Permanente success in safe and appropriate opioids prescribing and the results of a study he co-wrote in the Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practices. He believes other physician groups can use the SCPMG model to address their opioids prescription usage.

“It will look different but I think the principles are all the same,” Kanter is quoted in Fierce Healthcare. In the article, he outlined four key steps: 1) recognizing the problem, 2) educating the organization and the physicians, 3) make sure leaders set the tone and direction, and 4) give doctors feedback.

To read the complete article, visit Fierce Healthcare’s website.