Livingston County considers resolution to track county employees' opioid prescriptions
The Livingston County Board of Commissioners is considering a resolution that would implement a program from Opioid Free America that would analyze prescription data of county employees and encourage prescribers to wean their patients off opioids.
But advocates CBS News Detroit talked to on Thursday say a program like that already exists.
"There's far fewer initiatives that focus on prevention than they do on trying to, you know, cure somebody after they've, you know, got opioid use disorder. So I'm pretty excited about the prospects of moving forward," said Commissioner Wes Nakagiri.
Nakagiri proposed the resolution to bring the Opioid Free America program to Livingston County. He said the county would provide Opioid Free America with claims data from employees' health insurance.
"We don't provide them anything that is not allowed by HIPAA law. So we are fully HIPAA compliant, and they use their, I'll say, analytical tools to search for signs of potential opioid use disorder before it actually turns into a disorder," he said.
Employee's family members covered by the county's health insurance would also be included in this new program.
"Their data won't be floating around anywhere because the data that's shared is de-identified," Nakagiri said.
That means names, addresses and other identifying information will be redacted. But we learned from a recovery advocacy group in Livingston County that Michigan already has a similar program that tracks controlled substances and assesses patient risk called the Michigan Automated Prescription System (MAPS).
Nonetheless, Nakagiri said he's in favor of the program because of how often people get hooked after routine prescriptions.
"They're not getting their first dose, you know, illegally. They're not getting it from a drug dealer. Their first exposure to opioids is through a prescription," he said.
If the resolution is approved by the full board, the program would run for two years with an option for a third year, and it would cost the county about $75,000 in the first year.
