Managed Care Cast

On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we speak with Tham Le, PhD, MPH, and Linda Wastila, PhD, MSPH, lead and senior authors, respectively, of “Patterns of Opioid Use in Commercially Insured Patients With Cancer,” which was published in the May issue of The American Journal of Managed Care®. They took up their investigation after finding that most previous similar studies of opioid use focused on problems with opioid use among general populations and that patients with cancer are an often overlooked population where opioid use is concerned. They sought a greater understanding of which patients with cancer are at risk for undertreatment and who is at risk for a substance use disorder. Overall, they believe that policies concerning opioid misuse need strengthening while continuing to address the genuine pain needs of patients with cancer and that they need to balance the benefits of opioid prescribing with the risks.