PittPharmacy student Justin Saver (class of 2018) recently presented at the annual Pharmacy Quality Alliance meeting at Arlington, Virginia in May 2016.
Healthcare executives from health plans, PBMs, community pharmacy, pharmaceutical research and technology companies, government agencies including CMS and the FDA, healthcare associations and academia, came together to hear from healthcare experts on the state of the industry and to share thoughts and ideas on improving medication use and safety.
Saver’s presentation title was: Use of PQA Performance Measures to Quantify Opioid Misuse and Risks in Medicare. Analyzing a large pharmacy database of Medicare beneficiaries in the United States, Saver found that 39% of all Medicare beneficiaries received at least one opioid prescription. Of these, 66% received multiple opioid prescriptions, and 5% were exposed to very high daily doses for at least 90 days. Younger patient (≤54 years), men, those with disabilities, and non-Hispanic whites were at greatest risk of excessive opioid exposure. Significant state- , regional- , and county-level variation were also noted.
Saver’s poster was selected in the top 3 of 26 presented posters and was the only student poster at the conference.
Results of his work will assist local, state, and national policymakers with targeting and tailoring opioid overuse interventions.
PittPharmacy faculty mentors include Susan J. Skledar, RPh, MPH, FASHP, Carolyn T. Thorpe, PhD, MPH, and Joshua Thorpe, PhD, MPH. Data and programming resources were supported by the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy.
