Emergency departments (EDs) serving adults throughout Los Angeles County are taking a united stand to adopt standardized ED clinical practices for the prescribing of high-risk opioid medications used to treat pain in order to reduce overdose and deaths, abuse, diversion, and overuse.

The practice guidelines, sponsored by a multi-organizational task force that include Los Angeles County Departments of Public Health and Health Services, Kaiser Permanente and the California Chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians, for treatment and prescribing practices, follow those adopted by EDs in San Diego and Imperial Counties, and are derived from the American Academy of Emergency Medicine (AAEM) guidelines (October 2013).

The new safe prescribing guidelines announced at a March 20th press conference will ensure that patients are prescribed appropriate medications for pain by their physicians and will also reinforce consistency of prescribing practices in all emergency departments to mitigate an epidemic of prescription opioid overuse and deaths in the United States and reduce the likelihood of diversion, abuse of pain medication, and ED shopping.

The county-wide adoption of standard clinical guidelines and communication to all patients about safe prescription opioids in all EDs is essential to the program’s success.

Establishing a consistent practice among all EDs in LA County will set a new standard for safe and effective pain management, less dependent on high-risk opioid medications. LA County DPH will monitor key statistics over time, which include ED prescribing and about overall overdose and deaths in LA County. The task force does plan to take this work beyond EDs and into other clinical settings. Visit www.lasafeprescribing.org to learn more about safe prescribing, as well as for information on the tool kit.

Contact: Jaime Garcia

(213) 538-0702, jgarcia@hasc.org