What You Should Know:
– Available on FAIR Health’s website fairhealth.org, the Opioid Tracker includes a heat map representing the percentage of patients with opioid abuse and dependence diagnoses compared to all patients receiving medical services in 2023 for each state.
– Clicking on a state displays an infographic for that state. The infographic includes the top five procedure codes by utilization for opioid abuse and dependence, the top five procedure codes by aggregate allowed amounts for opioid abuse and dependence, the change in the percentage of patients with opioid abuse and dependence diagnoses compared to all patients receiving medical services from 2020 to 2023, and the distribution of patients with opioid abuse and dependence diagnoses by age and gender.
Opioid Abuse and Dependence: National Trends and Key Insights from FAIR Health Data (2020-2023)
FAIR Health, a national nonprofit organization under section 501(c)(3) of the federal tax code, focuses on enhancing transparency in healthcare costs and insurance information. With the nation’s largest repository of commercial healthcare claims, consisting of over 48 billion records and growing by more than 3 billion annually, FAIR Health plays a pivotal role in supporting health systems research and providing valuable data products and consumer resources.
According to the FAIR Health Opioid Tracker, several key national trends were observed between 2020 and 2023 regarding opioid abuse and dependence:
– Increase in Diagnoses: The percentage of patients diagnosed with opioid abuse and dependence rose by 7.3% from 2020 to 2023. In 2020, 0.412% of all patients receiving medical services had such diagnoses, increasing to 0.442% in 2023.
– Most Common Procedure Codes: In 2023, procedure code H0020, which covers methadone administration and/or services, accounted for 20.6% of all opioid abuse and dependence-related claim lines nationally, making it the most commonly used procedure code for this condition.
– High-Cost Procedure Codes: The highest aggregate allowed amounts for opioid abuse and dependence in 2023 were associated with procedure code H0018, which represents a behavioral health short-term residential treatment program (excluding room and board, per diem). This code accounted for 11.9% of total allowed costs for opioid abuse and dependence.
– Demographic Distribution: In 2023, the 51 to 65 age group made up 27.3% of all opioid abuse and dependence diagnoses, the highest among all age groups. Gender-wise, males accounted for 56.9% of patients diagnosed with opioid abuse and dependence, while females comprised 43.1%.
This data highlights significant trends in the management and demographics of opioid abuse and dependence over recent years, providing critical insights for healthcare providers, policymakers, and public health experts.
FAIR Health President Robin Gelburd stated: “The Opioid Tracker sheds light on multiple aspects of opioid abuse and dependence, including utilization, costs, age and gender. We hope that the Opioid Tracker will be useful to all healthcare stakeholders, such as policy makers, payors, providers, patients and researchers, as they continue to track and seek to better understand and address this public health issue.”
