State Comprehensive Opioid Prescribing Limits Associated With Reduced Opioid-Related Hospitalizations And ED Visits

Abstract

Drug overdose deaths involving prescription opioids rose by more than 400 percent from 1999 to 2022, partly driven by overprescribing. Following 2016 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, thirty-nine states instituted opioid prescribing limits (OPLs), with twelve adopting comprehensive OPLs combining maximum duration limits and dosage caps. However, the relationship between comprehensive OPLs and health outcomes remains unclear. Using data from the State Inpatient Databases and State Emergency Department Databases with a difference-in-differences design, we evaluated the association between state OPLs and opioid-related inpatient stays and emergency department (ED) visits during the period 2016–21. We found that the states’...

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