Repercussions from opioid use in the United States continues at an epidemic level.
The CDC has documented there were 64,070 drug overdose deaths in 2016 and approximately 63% (around 40,000 total or 109 per day) of those deaths were related to opioids. Unfortunately, the trend is toward more powerful versions of opioids, transitioning from opioids that were legally prescribed, to heroin and now to illicit fentanyl and carfentanil.
Workers' compensation has been dealing with the prescription opioid epidemic since over-prescribing started in the mid 1990s. However, anxiety over opioid use increased dramatically in 2006 when the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) put forth that Work Comp Medicare Set Aside (WCMSA) calculations should include pharmacy cost projections over the life expectancy of Medicare-eligible injured workers.
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