Colorado Hospital Pilot Cut Opioid Prescriptions By 36%

The Colorado Opioid Safety Collaborative pilot program involving 10 Colorado hospitals cut opioid prescriptions given by emergency departments by 36% in a six-month period from June 2017 through November 2017. During this program, prescriptions for “alternative to opioid” (ALTO) medications increased by 31.4%.

The pilot program was implemented as an effort to reduce the administration of opioid medications by emergency department clinical staff using an ALTO strategy approach in emergency departments. The ALTO strategy was described in “2017 Opioid Prescribing & Treatment Guidelines,” by the Colorado chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP). The goals of . . .