• Susan Seago, Adam Hayek, Jessica Pruszynski, and Megan Greene Newman.
• Departments of Medicine (Seago, Newman), Pulmonary and Critical Care (Hayek), and Biostatistics (Pruszynski), Scott & White Memorial Hospital, Baylor Scott & White Health, Temple, Texas; and Texas A&M Health Sciences Center College of Medicine, Temple, Texas (Newman).
• Proc (Bayl Univ Med Cent). 2016 Jul 1; 29 (3): 268-70.

AbstractNationally, health care providers wrote 259 million prescriptions for narcotic analgesics in 2012, or roughly one bottle of narcotics per US adult (1). In an effort to combat this ever-growing problem, the Drug Enforcement Administration changed the schedule of hydrocodone combination products from schedule III to schedule II on October 6, 2014. Fourteen Baylor Scott & White pharmacies encompassing a 200-mile radius in Central Texas were queried for prescription information on hydrocodone/acetaminophen, morphine, codeine/acetaminophen, and tramadol before and after the rescheduling to evaluate trends in prescription drug usage. While the rescheduling of hydrocodone combination products resulted in a reduced number of prescriptions and the total quantity dispensed of both the hydrocodone/acetaminophen 5/325 mg (Norco 5/325) and 10/325 mg (Norco 10/325) formulations, this was offset by a dramatic increase in alternative narcotic analgesics such as tramadol, codeine/acetaminophen 30/300 mg (Tylenol #3), and codeine/acetaminophen 60/300 mg (Tylenol #4), which do not have schedule II requirements. Additionally, there was no significant reduction in total pain medication prescribed after converting all agents to morphine equivalents.

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