By Pat Anson, PNN Editor

It was five years ago today – March 15, 2016 – that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released its controversial opioid guideline, which discourages doctors from prescribing opioids for chronic pain.   

“This guideline is intended to improve communication between clinicians and patients about the risks and benefits of opioid therapy for chronic pain, improve the safety and effectiveness of pain treatment, and reduce the risks associated with long-term opioid therapy, including opioid use disorder, overdose, and death,” the CDC said.

Although voluntary and only intended for primary care physicians, the guideline soon became the “standard of care” in the United States, with many states, doctors, insurers, pharmacies and regulators adopting its recommendations, such as limiting opioid doses to no more than 90 morphine milligram equivalents (MME) per day.

Soon after the guideline was released, the CDC was warned by its own consulting company that “some doctors are following these guidelines as strict law rather than recommendation, and these physicians have completely stopped prescribing opioids.” Over three hundred healthcare professionals also warned that forced opioid tapering was causing “an alarming increase in reports of patient suffering and suicides.”

A PNN survey two years ago found that over 85 percent of patients believed the CDC guideline made their pain and quality of life worse, significantly reduced their access to pain care, and drove some to alcohol and illegal drugs for pain relief.

Not until 2019, however, did then CDC Director Robert Redfield acknowledge the guideline was causing problems and pledged to “clarify its recommendations to help reduce unintended harms.”

Two years later, the CDC is still in the process of revising and possibly expanding the guideline, with the goal of releasing an update for public comment late this year.

Should the guideline be changed? Has it been successful in improving pain treatment? Did it reduce addiction, overdose and death?

We thought this would be a good time to conduct another survey of patients and healthcare providers, to see what changes they’d recommend to the CDC and the “Opioid Workgroup,” a panel of experts that is advising the agency.

Among the questions we’re asking is whether the recommended dose limit of 90 MME/day should be scrapped; if the guideline should be expanded to include treatment of short-term acute pain; and whether the CDC should give advice on treating specific conditions, such as low back pain or fibromyalgia.

Click here to take the survey. It should only take a few minutes to complete. Your identity and any personal health information will be kept confidential.