Opioid Painkiller Prescribing

Health issues that cause people pain don’t vary much from
place to place—not enough to explain why, in 2012, health
care providers in the highest-prescribing state wrote almost
3 times as many opioid painkiller prescriptions per person
as those in the lowest prescribing state in the US. Or why
there are twice as many painkiller prescriptions per person
in the US as in Canada. Data suggest that where health care
providers practice influences how they prescribe.
Higher prescribing of painkillers is associated with more
overdose deaths. More can be done at every level to
prevent overprescribing while . . .