• Kao-Ping Chua, Chin Hwa Y Dahlem, Thuy D Nguyen, Chad M Brummett, Rena M Conti, Amy S Bohnert, Aaron D Dora-Laskey, and Keith E Kocher.
• Department of Pediatrics, Susan B. Meister Child Health Evaluation and Research Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI; Department of Health Management and Policy, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI. Electronic address: chuak@med.umich.edu.
• Ann Emerg Med. 2022 Mar 1; 79 (3): 225236225-236.

Study ObjectiveNonfatal emergency department (ED) visits for opioid overdose are important opportunities to prescribe naloxone and buprenorphine, both of which can prevent future overdose-related mortality. We assessed the rate of this prescribing using national data from August 2019 to April 2021, a period during which US opioid overdose deaths reached record levels.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective cohort analysis using Symphony Health's Integrated Dataverse, which includes data from 5,800 hospitals and 70,000 pharmacies. Of ED visits for opioid overdose between August 4, 2019, and April 3, 2021, we calculated the proportion with at least 1 naloxone prescription within 30 days and repeated this analysis for buprenorphine. To contextualize the naloxone prescribing rate, we calculated the proportion of ED visits for anaphylaxis with at least 1 prescription for epinephrine-another life-saving rescue medication-within 30 days.ResultsAnalyses included 148,966 ED visits for opioid overdose. Mean weekly visits increased 23.6% during the period between April 26, 2020 and October 3, 2020 compared with the period between August 4, 2019 to April 25, 2020. Visits declined to prepandemic levels between October 4, 2020 and March 13, 2021, after which visits began to rise. Naloxone and buprenorphine were prescribed within 30 days at 7.4% and 8.5% of the 148,966 visits, respectively. The naloxone prescribing rate (7.4%) was substantially lower than the epinephrine prescribing rate (48.9%) after ED visits for anaphylaxis.ConclusionBetween August 4, 2019, and April 3, 2021, naloxone and buprenorphine were only prescribed after 1 in 13 and 1 in 12 ED visits for opioid overdose, respectively. Findings suggest that clinicians are missing critical opportunities to prevent opioid overdose-related mortality.Copyright © 2021 American College of Emergency Physicians. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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