Comparison of Opioids Prescribed by Advanced Practice Clinicians vs Surgeons After Surgical Procedures in the US

IMPORTANCE Advanced practice clinicians (APCs), defined as nurse practitioners and physician assistants, are increasingly being incorporated into surgical teams. Despite this inclusion, there are no recent national data on the role of these clinicians in surgical opioid prescribing or the dosing of such prescriptions. OBJECTIVE To calculate the proportion of surgical opioid prescriptions written by APCs and to compare the total and daily dosages of these prescriptions with those written by surgeons. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS This cross-sectional study used the Optum's De-Identified Clinformatics Data Mart, which contains deidentified claims from patients with private insurance and Medicare Advantage plans across the US. Adults and children who underwent 1 of 31 inpatient and outpatient surgical procedures from January 1, 2017, through November 30, 2019, were identified. The analysis was limited to procedures with 1 or more perioperative opioid prescriptions, defined as an opioid prescription dispensed within 3 days of the index date of surgery. Data were analyzed from April 1, 2021, to July 31, 2022. EXPOSURES Prescriber specialty. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The outcome was the proportion of perioperative opioid prescriptions and refill prescriptions written by APCs. Linear regression was used to compare the total dosage of perioperative opioid prescriptions written by APCs vs surgeons measured in morphine milligram equivalents (MMEs). Models were adjusted for demographic characteristics, comorbidities, opioid-naive status, year of index date, hospitalization or observation status, surgical complications, and surgeon specialty. Analyses were conducted at the procedure level, and patients with multiple procedures were included. RESULTS Analyses included 628197 procedures for 581387 patients (358541 females [57.1%]; mean [SD] age, 56 [18] years). Overall, APCs wrote 119266 (19.0%) of the 628197 perioperative opioid prescriptions and 59679 (25.1%) of the 237740 refill prescriptions. Perioperative opioid prescriptions written by APCs had higher total dosages compared with those written by surgeons (adjusted difference, 40.0 MMEs; 95% CI, 31.3-48.7 MMEs). This difference persisted in a subgroup analysis limited to opioid-naive patients (adjusted difference, 15.7 MMEs; 95% CI, 13.9-17.5 MMEs). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE In this cross-sectional analysis, one-fifth of perioperative opioid prescriptions and one-quarter of refill prescriptions were written by APCs. While surgeons wrote most perioperative opioid prescriptions that were intended for perioperative analgesia, higher total dosages from APCs suggest that opioid stewardship initiatives that support the role of APCs may be warranted.

Automated summary

This study aims to determine the proportion of surgical opioid prescriptions written by advanced practice clinicians (APCs) and compare the dosages with those written by surgeons. The results showed that APCs wrote a significant portion of perioperative opioid prescriptions and their prescriptions had higher total dosages compared to surgeons.