Opioid Treatment Guidelines and Other Information for Healthcare Professionals and Patients Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

For Practitioners

• CDC Checklist for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain
  For primary care providers treating adults (18+) with chronic pain ≥ 3 months, excluding cancer, palliative, and end-of-life care
• CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain Factsheet
  Determining when to initiate or continue opioids for chronic pain
• CDC Guideline for Non-opioid Treatments for Chronic Pain
  Patients with pain should receive treatment that provides the greatest benefit. Opioids are not always the first-line therapy for chronic pain outside of active cancer treatment, palliative care, and end-of-life care.
• CDC Publication for Assessing Benefits and Harms of Opioid Therapy
  The CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Painprovides up-to-date guidance on prescribing and weighing the risks and benefits of opioids.
• CDC Publication for Calculating Total Daily Dose of Opioids for Safer Dosage
  Why is it important to calculate the total daily dosage of opioids? Patients prescribed higher opioid dosages are at higher risk of overdose death.

Information for Patients

• Opioid Basics
  Information regarding prescription opioids, including fentanyl and heroin, overdose prevention and commonly used terms can be found at the following link.
• Safer, More Effective Pain Management
  Living with chronic pain can be challenging. It is essential that you and your doctor discuss treatment options with all of the risks and benefits carefully considered. Some medications, such as prescription opioids, can help relieve pain in the short term but also come with serious risks and potential complications—and must be prescribed and used carefully.
• Reports
  Opioid Poisoning, Overdose and Prevention 2015 Report to the Governor and NYS Legislature
• Heroin Abuse
  Find resources related to Governor's Cuomo's Task Force to Combat Heroin, including treatment availability, paying for treatment, how to initiate conversations about opioid and heroin abuse, recognizing warning signs and symptoms and key steps to prevention.