Insurer places new restrictions on prescriptions for painkillers Highmark declares ‘war on opioids’

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Highmark on Thursday morning declared “war on opioids,” announcing new restrictions and other curbs on the prescribing of the powerful painkillers widely blamed for spurring an epidemic of overdoses.

“We have to do something about it,” said Deb Rice-Johnson, president of the insurer, which spans Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Delaware and includes the Allegheny Health Network. “We have declared war on opioids.”

Starting March 8, the insurer’s commercial members — those insured through employer or individual plans — who aren’t already receiving opioids will be limited to seven-day prescriptions for those drugs for acute pain incidents. Those members will also be limited to 14 days worth of opioids in a given month.

The insurer will also require prior authorization before it will cover long-acting opioids. It will encourage other therapies, Ms. Rice-Johnson said, including physical therapy, chiropractic care and acupuncture.

Patients who have long received opioids for chronic pain won’t be subjected to any sudden cutoff, said Charles DeShazer, Highmark’s senior vice president and chief medical officer. They might be weaned off.

“You can’t just shut off folks in that sense, because what frequently happens is they go to heroin or fentanyl or other street drugs,” Dr. DeShazer said. But some acute pain patients might never be started on opioids. “If it’s pain that’s an annoyance, and it’s