By Richard Horgan Los Angeles (Knewz) — In 2017, non-opioid pain medication prescribing rates were higher in the U.S. by three percent. That percentage rose to 8.7 in 2018 and 9.7 percent in 2019. All thanks to a 2016 CDC guideline, which encouraged caution in prescribing opioids. To calculate these numbers, researchers at the University of Michigan computed insurance claims data of more than 15 million patients. “These findings suggest clinicians have considered opioid therapy only if its expected benefits exceeded the expected risks to the patient,” said Jason Goldstick, Ph.D., lead author o…
