The 2022 CDC Clinical Practice Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Pain: What It Is and How It Can Be Implemented

Improving the way opioids are prescribed through clinical practice guidelines can maximize patient access to safer, more effective pain care while reducing the number of people who misuse these medications or experience overdoses involving them. Due to new scientific evidence, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) determined that an update of the 2016 Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain that included an expansion to certain acute conditions was needed.

The Clinical Practice Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Pain (2022 Guideline) supports individualized patient care, safer and more effective pain management options, and improving communication between clinicians and patients to make informed, person-centered decisions related to pain care. The 2022 Guideline provides evidence-based recommendations for clinicians who provide pain care, including those prescribing opioids, for outpatients aged 18 years and older with acute pain (duration less than one month), subacute pain (duration of one-three months), or chronic pain (duration of more than three months), not including sickle cell disease-related pain management, cancer-related pain treatment, palliative care, and end-of-life care.

This session will provide an overview of the Guideline, highlight the differences between the 2016 and 2022 Guideline, and a review of materials developed to support the implementation of the 2022 Guideline recommendations within organizations and jurisdictions.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify the intended clinical audience for the 2022 Clinical Practice Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Pain

• Describe at least two changes/updates to the 2022 guideline and at least two principles in the 2022 guideline that continue (since 2016) to be supported by available evidence

• Describe CDC resources that can assist in implementing the updated CDC guidance

(1.25 Credits)