CHICAGO, Sept. 25, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- New technology has just been released that provides early detection of questionable drug usage behavior to reduce payer costs and improve employee health outcomes. Rising Medical Solutions’ Rx Intelligence technology targets the workers’ compensation industry’s opioid epidemic. With Americans consuming 80 percent of the world’s opioid supply, it’s a scourge that’s significantly impacting our nation and our injured workers.
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Claims with long-acting opioid prescriptions are costing 9.3 times more than claims without, according to the August edition of the Journal of Occupational & Environmental Medicine, the latest in a string of industry studies. When long-acting opioid painkillers are prescribed, workers’ compensation claims are nearly four times more likely to turn into catastrophic claims with costs tallying more than $100,000, the study also found.
The company’s launch of Rx Intelligence technology helps ensure injured workers receive appropriate meds, while curtailing narcotic overprescribing and overuse narcotics represent roughly 25% of all workers’ comp drug costs. Rising is using analytics to monitor an injured worker’s prescription drug activity and alert users to “at-risk” cases so that early intervention can take place to prevent costly drug misuse or abuse. Key functionality includes:
- Complete medical picture, in addition to prescription fill data
- Urine drug screening insight
- Prescription activity for multiple providers
- Identification of escalating or weaning patterns
- Utilization of any formulary (e.g. payer-specific, state-specific, blended)
- Tracking of any prescription drug, not just opioids
“In any pharmacy review, if a person is taking an opioid, they are likely taking many other drugs that could be problematic,” says Anne Kirby, Rising’s Chief Compliance Officer and Vice President of Medical Review Services. “That’s why we don’t just deal with opioids in a vacuum, as other drugs impact how opioids are used and influence their effect.”
Enlisting Rx analytics as one integral tool in the fight against prescription drug misuse and abuse is featured in a new white paper, Fighting the Rx Epidemic: A Prescription for Workers’ Comp. To read what the top minds in workers’ comp, government, healthcare and academia are recommending as the multi-pronged fix, download a copy.
About Rising Medical Solutions Inc.
Rising Medical Solutions is a national medical-financial solutions firm that provides medical bill review, hospital bill review and medical cost containment services to the, workers’ compensation, auto, liability and group health markets. Inc. magazine and the Private Company Index (PCI) rank the Chicago-based company as one of the fastest growing private enterprises in America.
Media Contact
Leslie Yeransian - 617.733.1225 / leslie.yeransian@risingms.com
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SOURCE Rising Medical Solutions
