Increasing Access to Naloxone in Veterans Receiving Opioids Through Community Care

The United States is battling an opioid overdose epidemic, and Veterans are at almost double the risk compared to the general population. Veterans Health Administration (VHA) recognizes the critical role naloxone plays as a risk mitigation strategy in opioid prescribing; however, there was not a standardized process within the Kansas City VA Medical Center's (KCVAMC) community care program. This quality improvement project included Veterans that received opioids through community care from 2022 to 2023. The Stratification Tool for Opioid Risk Mitigation and chart review were used along with descriptive statistics. Results found 11% (22 of 206) of Veterans were dispensed naloxone within one year prior to receiving their opioid prescription. This data indicated the importance of expanding access to naloxone in Veterans receiving opioids from community care providers. As a result of this data, the KCVAMC implemented an outpatient pharmacy protocol to dispense naloxone to appropriate Veterans that receive an opioid through the community care program. The protocol was initiated on March 29, 2023. From the end of March through 2023, naloxone dispensing for these Veterans increased from 11% to 67%.