Patterns of Opioid Prescribing in Minnesota: 2012 and 2015

Contact: Karl Fernstrom
Email:  health.apcd@state.mn.us

The Minnesota Department of Health, Health Economics Program, using 2012 and 2015 data from the MN APCD, produced a brief looking at the rates of opioid prescribing in Minnesota. Key findings of the study include:

• Overall rates of opioid prescribing declined in Minnesota from 2012 to 2015, but the morphine milligram equivalents (MME) per prescription increased.
• Medicare and Medicaid, where eligibility is determined by age, disability status, and/or income, covered approximately one-third of Minnesotans with general health coverage and accounted for two-thirds of opioid prescriptions filled in 2015.
• Nearly one in three Minnesotans with an opioid prescription in 2015 had multiple prescribers.
• In both 2012 and 2015, 6 in 10 opioid prescriptions were filled within 15 days of the patient’s last medical visit; however, 1 in 10 opioid prescriptions were filled without a medical visit in the past 90 days, suggesting closer patient-prescriber communication or opioid oversight may be needed in some cases.
• Prescription opioid use varied across counties. In some counties, prescription opioid use in 2015 was over 3 times the statewide average of 523 MME per resident.