For chronic opioid users, CMS expects “all sponsors to implement an opioid care coordination edit at 90 morphine milligram equivalent (MME) per day. This formulary-level safety edit should trigger when a beneficiary’s cumulative MME per day across their opioid prescriptions reaches or exceeds 90 MME.”
There is flexibility: Pharmacists may contact prescribers and confirm that more pain medication is needed and then override the 90 MME/day threshold, if appropriate.
Finally, CMS expects “sponsors to implement additional soft safety edits to alert the pharmacist about duplicative opioid therapy and concurrent use of opioids and benzodiazepines,” according to the guidance.
The executive and legislative branches also are taking action.
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