More doctors than ever are using health IT to combat the opioid epidemic.

The percentage of doctors who reportedly use both prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) and electronic prescribing of controlled substances (EPCS)—two types of health IT solutions—increased dramatically between 2019 and 2021, according to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), a division of the US Department of Health and Human Services.

PDMPs and ECPS both play a “critical” role in controlling powerful painkiller scripts, as they allow doctors to see the prescription history of their patients, according to a Jan. 19 ONC blog post.

What are they? PDMPs monitor scripts containing controlled substances. Each state has its own PDMP electronic database, so when a pharmacist dispenses a listed drug, they must record it in the database. EPCS describes the electronic transmission of prescriptions.

By the numbers:

• 71% of doctors said they used EPCS in 2021, with 62% saying they used it “often.”
• In 2019, just 37% of doctors replied the same.
• 78% of doctors said in 2021 that they checked their state’s PDMP before prescribing a controlled substance to a patient for the first time.

The ONC based its research on data from the National Electronic Health Records Survey, a nationally representative annual survey of office-based physicians in the US.

The big picture: “Seeing someone’s prescription history can let you know that the person might be taking another product, other drug, or a substance that’s contraindicated,” Tricia Lee Rolle, a senior advisor at ONC, told Healthcare Brew. “So in addition to the quantities, it’s also important to evaluate whether or not it’s appropriate to start therapy at all.”

Keep reading here.—MA

Do you work in healthcare or have information about the industry that we should know? Email Maia at [email protected]. For completely confidential conversations, ask Maia for her number on Signal.

People across the US have increasingly left desk jobs—by choice or otherwise—and joined the so-called gig economy as rideshare drivers, delivery workers, dog walkers…you name it. But while the benefits of gig work (like being able to set your own hours) are often touted, these jobs tend to come with one major drawback: a lack of benefits.

Stride Health is looking to change that. Noah Lang, co-founder and CEO of the California-based insurance broker, said Stride was created to connect workers who lack access to traditional employer-based benefits with a range of affordable insurance options—including plans offered through the federal exchange (Healthcare.gov), for which the company is an approved partner.

Stride Health’s free online platform tailors health insurance and benefit recommendations to a person’s income level and circumstances. The model seeks to disrupt the traditional employer-based insurance model by helping users find coverage (and handle any related tax credits) that is not tied to their job.

And major companies are taking notice. Stride boasts Uber and Red Lobster as two of the “hundreds” of employers that use its Affordable Care Act health portal for independent contractors. It has also launched partnerships with Allstate and others.

In this interview, Lang talks about how Stride is helping to change the conversation around health insurance and benefits, and what that could mean for the future of US workers.

Keep reading here.—SY

Do you work in healthcare or have information about the industry that we should know? Email Shannon at [email protected]. For completely confidential conversations, ask Shannon for her number on Signal.

Confidence in the caliber of the American health system has never been lower.

More than one in five adults (21%) living in the US now rate the country’s healthcare as “poor” quality—a record high, according to Gallup’s annual health and healthcare poll.

Less than half of all respondents (48%) surveyed in 2022 said they’d rank the quality of healthcare in the US as “excellent/good”—a new low since Gallup began tracking the issue in 2001. (That’s down from 50% in 2021 and a record high of 62% in 2010 and 2012.) About a third (31%), meanwhile, said they’d rate the quality of US healthcare as “only fair,” a slight drop from 35% in 2021.

Gallup partially attributed the drop in perceived quality to politics, noting that “Republicans’ positive ratings have been subdued since President Donald Trump left office.” Other likely factors, the organization offered, could be “changes to healthcare that have taken place amid the Covid-19 pandemic or curtailed access to abortion since the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision.”

Survey says:

• Respondents reported a rosier take on the care they personally receive. Over 70% rated it as “excellent/good” compared to 6% who rated it as “poor.” But that high “excellent/good” mark is still down from 76% in 2021 and 82% in 2020.
• Costs remained a point of contention in 2022. Less than a quarter (24%) of respondents said they were “satisfied” with the total cost of healthcare in the US, and this proportion is on par with rates from the past two decades. But only 56% of those surveyed reported being satisfied with the total cost they pay for care—the lowest level since 2016.
• One in five respondents think the US healthcare system is in a “state of crisis” (20%) or has “major problems” (48%).

Methodology: Gallup polled at least 1,000 adults living in all 50 states (and DC) via phone from Nov. 9 through Dec. 2, 2022.—SY

Today’s top healthcare reads.

Stat: People who previously contracted Covid-19 had a 24% increased risk for high cholesterol levels, according to one study. (NBC News)

Quote: “It’s a very sobering message.”—Stephen Kingsmore, CEO of a San Diego-based genomics institute, on a study he authored that suggests “DNA sequencing could reduce infant deaths” (Stat News)

Read: The federal government has failed to implement a health data network. (Kaiser Health News)

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