A six-month pilot program among several Colorado hospitals and healthcare facilities to reduce opioid prescriptions has been a success, with every participating facility cutting opioid prescriptions by at least 30% - and some by nearly 50%. The program involves eight hospitals in the state and two freestanding EDs. It asked doctors to limit the number of opioids they prescribed and provided prescribers with guidelines outlining how to treat pain caused by specific conditions without the use of narcotics. The guidelines also involved providing patients information about opioid misuse and resources for help. Despite the positive results, a professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine cautioned that the study had some limitations: it didn't include a control group to compare against, and didn't assess patient satisfaction, which would show whether the opioid alternatives were comparable to opioids in managing pain.
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