Patients with pain should receive treatment that provides the greatest benefit. Opioids are not the first-line therapy for chronic pain outside of active cancer treatment, palliative care, and end-of-life care. Evidence suggests that nonopioid treatments, including nonopioid medications and nonpharmacological therapies, can provide relief to those suffering from chronic pain, and are safer. Read through this fact sheet to get a better understanding of how to effectively approach non-opioid solutions to chronic pain.

Health plans can influence the behavior of providers and patients, prevent overprescribing, ensure appropriate treatment is available — and save lives. Use this four part guide to change the way in which the epidemic is impacting your community.

MAT has been proven to save lives, improve quality of life, and lower medical costs, but remains inaccessible to almost 90% of the people it could help. This paper outlines concrete strategies that public and private plans can implement in their efforts to ensure that their members have access to MAT when and where they need it.

Safe Med LA, the opioid coalition for LA county created a 10-page recommendation on safe prescribing, broken down into six main focus areas: (1) Safe Opioid Prescribing; (2) Avoid Escalating Opioid Doses; (3) Avoid Dangerous Medication Combinations ; (4) Safe Tapering Practices; (5) Concurrent Drug and Alcohol Use; (6) Opioid Use Disorder and Medications for Addiction Treatment. Use this recommendation in conjunction with the Safe Opioid Prescribing Recommendations Template to customize the guidelines for your own communities and prescribers.

As the epidemic evolves, clinicians are prescribing fewer opioids. However, the demand for synthetic opioids including heroin and fentanyl are on the rise. What can we do? This infographic will go through six elements of lowering the demand of opioids, along with a case example.

This guideline provides recommendations for primary care clinicians who are prescribing opioids for chronic pain outside of active cancer treatment, palliative care, and end-of-life care.

An inclusive resource sheet with various tools for prescribers.

Opioids can be safe when carefully prescribed and monitored by a clinician, but they are not generally effective in treating long-term chronic pain and they have the potential to become addictive and misused. Prescribing guidelines are an important mechanism to align practices with evidence and safety. Use this fact sheet to learn more about safe prescribing.

This paper is national in scope and reviews recent changes to the Part 2 regulations. The paper analyzes how Part 2 applies to primary care practices that seek to expand access to SUD treatment, and how providers in different parts of the country are navigating these rules. While focusing on care for opioid use disorder, the paper is applicable to all SUD care.

We hear a lot about the opioid epidemic in the news, but not so much about how we are going to stop it. SafeRx Santa Cruz County has been working in collaboration with doctors, pharmacists, and other community members on preventative measures.

This webpage provides tools for primary care providers to help carry out the complex task of balancing pain management with the potential risks that prescription opioids pose.

Guidance from the federal and state government about the delivery of and payment for remote services (e.g., telehealth), links to virtual recovery supports for patients with substance use disorder, approaches to team care and self-care, and links to key content from other programs.

This site gives resources and updates on telehealth policies, during COVID-19.