Adherence to legislation limiting opioid prescription duration following musculoskeletal injury

North Carolina had implemented legislation (Strengthen Opioid Misuse Prevention (STOP) Act) limiting opioid prescriptions to 5 days for acute pain and 7 days for post-operative pain. This study aimed to identify patient, prescriber, and facility characteristics associated with STOP Act adherence for patients with acute or post-surgical musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions.

A three-level hierarchical logistic regression model was used to predict odds of adherence with STOP Act duration limits, accounting for fixed and random effects at the patient, prescriber, and facility levels.

A large healthcare system in North Carolina.

Patients (N = 6,849) presenting from 2018 to 2020 with a diagnosis of an acute MSK injury.

The STOP Act limited the duration of opioid prescriptions in North Carolina.

Prescriptions adhering to the STOP Act duration limits of 5 days (nonoperative) or 7 days (operative) were the primary outcome.

Opioids were compliant with STOP Act duration limits in 69.3 percent of encounters, with 33 percent of variation accounted for by clinician and 29 percent by facility. Patients prescribed >1 opioid (odds ratio (OR) 0.46, 95 percent confidence interval (CI): 0.36, 0.58) had reduced odds of a compliant prescription; surgical patients had increased odds of a compliant prescription (outpatient surgery: OR 5.89, 95 percent CI: 2.43-14.29; inpatient surgery: OR 7.71, 95 percent CI: 3.04-19.56). Primary care sports medicine clinicians adhered to legislation less frequently than orthopedic surgeons (OR 0.38, 95 percent CI: 0.15, 0.97).

Most prescriptions adhered to STOP Act legislation. Tailored interventions to improve adherence among targeted groups of prescribers, eg, those treating nonoperative injuries and sport medicine clinicians, could be useful.