Hartford Business Journal

www.HartfordBusiness.com • September 18, 2017 • Hartford Business Journal 13 that the PMP was checked," Guerriere said. ProHealth also has an opioid-use agreement with chronic pain patients, requir- ing patients to commit to ran- dom drug tests, promise not to receive opioids or other controlled substances from other providers and agree that medicines will be cut off if the contract is broken, he said. ProHealth also is pursuing a relation- ship with Hartford Hospital's Pain Treat- ment Center in West Hartford, a group that specializes in pain management. Additionally, ProHealth is upgrading its electronic health record system to allow emailing controlled substance prescrip- tions to pharmacies to enhance prescrip- tion security and control. "Gradually we're trying to take steps to close all the loopholes," Guerriere said. While insurers like Cigna seek to reduce opioid prescriptions, there are exceptions. "We certainly don't want to take away opioids from people who truly need them," Nemecek said. "We've said from the begin- ning, if you have cancer, you're in hospice care, other conditions like that, we are not going to get in the way of appropriate opioid prescribing." Cigna also is working to address opioid abuse among veterans, who suffer from chronic pain at a higher rate than the general public and are more likely to die of opioid overdoses, by funding programs to help them. Cigna also will soon roll out a hot - line available 24/7 for veterans, their family members or caregivers, whether Cigna cus- tomers or not, for counseling and assistance. Prevention, intervention and support In his strategy report, Aetna's Paz said the insurer is working to prevent opioid misuse and abuse, intervene when it iden- tifies at-risk behavior and support those who are addicted through evidence-based treatments. He sent letters to roughly 1,000 "super prescribers," based on their narcotic refill- to-fill ratio, to assess their prescribing versus peers. Aetna also created a controlled substance use program to identify patients who might misuse or abuse opioids, then alerts pre- scribers and offers help to patients, in part by increasing access to naloxone, he wrote. It's also supporting medication-assisted treatment used in combination with be- havioral therapy, Paz said. "We're exploring nontraditional options as well," he wrote. "A new pilot features phone and text outreach to members between sessions to help keep them on track" and initial results are promising. By 2022, Aetna wants to increase the percentage of members with chronic pain treated by an evidence-based multimodal approach by 50 percent and also increase the percentage of members with opioid use disorder treated with medication- assisted therapy and other evidence-based treatments by 50 percent. Like other insurers, UnitedHealthcare does not require prior authorization for preferred medications that are used to treat opioid dependence. Using its analytics, UnitedHealthcare said it can help identify individuals who may be at risk for dependence and intervene sooner. It also utilizes a Pharmacy Lock- In program to view prescribing patterns. Once enrolled, members must obtain their prescriptions from a single phar- macy, reducing the likelihood of overprescribing or conflicting prescriptions, UnitedHealthcare said. Anthem has a similar program it calls Pharmacy Home Program. UnitedHealthcare, through its drug utili- zation review process, also can identify mem- bers who have started opioid-dependence therapy to reduce their reliance on opioids, but continue to receive an opioid medication, allowing it to notify physicians about a pos- sible relapse and encourage intervention. Anthem is working with primary care providers to get more of them certified to provide medication-assisted treatment, particularly for opioid use disorders. Anthem said it's committed to helping affiliated health plans double the number of members who receive behavioral health services as part of medication-assisted, drug and talk therapy for opioid use disor- der by 2019. Doug Nemecek, Psychiatrist and Chief Medical Officer for behavioral health, Cigna Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Overdose deaths involving opioids, United States, 2000-2015 Year '00 '01 '02 '03 '04 '05 '06 '07 '08 '09 '10 '11 '12 '13 '14 '15 Deaths per 100,000 population 10 11 8 9 6 7 4 5 2 3 0 1 UNDERSTANDING THE IMPACT ON THE WORKPLACE SEPTEMBER 27TH | 8AM – 10AM INFINITY MUSIC HALL, HARTFORD Are employers prepared to recognize the problem, or know where to go for help? OPENING REMARKS: Governor Dannel Malloy, State of Connecticut KEYNOTE ADDRESS: Pat Rehmer, Senior Vice President Behavioral Health, Hartford HealthCare TALES OF RECOVERY: Matthew Eacott, Executive Vice President and Partner, Aware Recovery Care PANEL DISCUSSION: Moderator: Miriam E. Delphin-Rittmon, Commissioner of the Department of Mental Health & Addiction Services Dan Fallon, Program Manager, Wheeler EAP Lois A. Krause, MBA, SPHR, SHRM-SCP Practice Leader, HR Compliance, KardasLarson, LLC Dr. Danilo M. Pangilinan, Chief Medical Offi cer, InterCommunity Inc. Dr. Dick Salmon, Vice President & National Medical Executive for Performance Measurement & Improvement, Cigna TO REGISTER GO TO HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM/OUREVENTS Single Ticket Rate: $45 | For questions about this event please contact Allison Williams at awilliams@hartfordbusiness.com or 860-236-9998 X122 EVENT SPONSORS: PRESENTING SPONSOR: Harold L. Paz, Chief Medical Officer, Aetna

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