WRNMMC, Bethesda, Md.   –   Walter Reed National Military Medical Center concludes Opioid Misuse Prevention observance with information about the Sole Provider Program and Pain and Opioid Safety App, a Department of Defense (DOD) approved initiative to provide adequate pain management care for patients who have or may demonstrate drug-seeking behavior and dependence, or both.

According to Dr. Christopher Spevak, Director of The Sole Provider Program, the Sole Provider Program “is one of the successful initiatives adopted throughout the Military Health System and the Veterans Affairs health system.”
“The Sole Provider Program allows us to look at our patient prescription history and identify those who are higher risk and reach out to them and the prescribing physician, making them aware of the risks and initiate risk mitigation strategies and improve safety,” said Spevak.

Walter Reed maintains the Sole Provider Program under the direction of the Executive Committee of the Medical Staff to monitor patients at risk for or with demonstrated prescription misuse, along with the Pain and Opioid Safety App.
According to Spevak and his team, the program allows real-time support to inform prescription activity and monthly follow-up on potential patient concerns with prescribers.

“The Pain & Opioid Safety App delivers education and assistance to chronic pain patients and potential opioid users,” said Amy J. Osik, Senior Program Manager. “There’s also a tracking tool for those struggling with pain to share their progress with their providers.

Osik says the app also provides resources to healthcare professionals for pain treatment, “ultimately aiding in saving lives.”

The National Capital Region Pain Initiative (NCRPI) office team developed app can be accessed on any web or mobile device at https://mobile.health.mil/opioidsafety. The features include:

• A pain assessment and tracker.
• Clinical practice guidelines.
• A point of reference for opioid training for providers.
• Helpful information for patients using opioids.

“The Sole Provider Program that houses the Pain & Opioid Safety app is one component of Walter Reed’s comprehensive prescription monitoring program,” said Nicole Cornish, PharmD, Sole Provider Coordinator. “This program restricts patients suspected of unsafe behavior and those prescribed controlled substances or high-risk medications, which require additional monitoring to a single designated provider, pharmacy, or both.”

Cornish shared that safe prescribing of such medications, like opioids, is best managed by one provider, team, or clinic. The Sole Provider Program allows real-time support to inform prescription activity and monthly follow-up on potential patient concerns with prescribers.

Regarding the team’s research on prescribing medication for chronic pain, Cornish says, “The medical center is conducting ongoing research to identify prescribing trends of buprenorphine for chronic pain before and after implementing pharmacy interventions.”

She also said the updated 2022 Veterans Affairs and DOD Clinical Practice Guidelines suggest using buprenorphine instead of full agonist opioids for patients receiving daily opioids to treat chronic pain due to lower risk of overdose and misuse.

“This is part of an ongoing quality improvement project to increase awareness of the clinical practice guidelines and aid clinician and patient decision-making,” said Cornish. “Additionally, they are analyzing prescribing trends of opioids, opioid/benzodiazepine patients, patients over 90 morphine milligram equivalent daily dose (MEDD), the age categories of patients on opioids, patients on long-term opioid therapy, and naloxone at Walter Reed to measure current and future interventions.”

The Opioid Misuse Prevention Day is a one-day observance. Still, the Walter Reed team has an ongoing commitment to taking a proactive approach to prevent opioid misuse and overdose.

The Pain and Opioid Safety app is another tool that prioritizes harm reduction and responsible use to protect patients from what the NCRPI team views as the “devastating consequences of opioid misuse.”

For more information about Opioid Education and safety, visit https://ncrpi.org/opioid-education-safety/.

To access the Pain and Opioid Safety app, visit https://mobile.health.mil/opioidsafety.