A Change Management Case Study for Safe Opioid Prescribing and Opioid Use Disorder Treatment

Given that prescribing practices have contributed to the current opioid epidemic and that primary care clinicians are the largest prescribers of opioids, family physicians must consider the twin goals of safely prescribing opioids for patients with chronic pain while effectively identifying and treating those who have developed opioid use disorder (OUD). However, family physicians may feel constrained by a culture and systems in their offices that do not support achieving these twin goals.

In a family medicine clinic within a larger academic institution that cares for an underserved, multicultural patient population in the greater Boston area, we provide a case study that illustrates the twin goals of safe opioid prescribing and treating OUD. We used 2 models of change management-Lewin's Three-Step Change Theory and the McKinsey 7S Model of Change-as a framework to describe our 5-year process of using cultural and structural elements to support these efforts.

Deliberate use of change management theory to support both safe opioid prescribing and treating patients with OUD over the past 5 years resulted in changes to the practices, people, skills, and infrastructure within our clinic. These changes have demonstrated a sense of stability and sustainability and hence now represent our clinic's current culture.

The Lewin and 7S models of change can be helpful guides to creating and maintaining a foundation of office-wide culture and structural support to meet the twin goals of safe opioid prescribing and treating patients with OUD.