Impact of State Regulations on Initial Opioid Prescribing Behavior in Rhode Island.

The opioid epidemic presents an urgent public health problem. Rhode Island has enacted comprehensive rules to address primary prevention of opioid overdose. This study evaluates the efficacy of those regulations in altering prescribing behavior, specifically regarding the initial prescription. Using data extracted from the Rhode Island Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP), before and after the publication of updated acute pain management regulations, we studied the rate of opioid prescribing using statistical process control (SPC) charts and found that the rate of prescribing unsafe doses of opioids, more than 30 morphine milligram equivalents (MMEs) per day or more than 20 doses to opioid naïve patients, decreased significantly.