Indianapolis-based Indiana University Health achieved a systemwide decrease in opioid prescriptions since launching an initiative to monitor opioid use in January 2017, according to NPR affiliate 89.3 WFPL News.
IU Health officials monitor every opioid prescription prescribed across its 16 hospitals and share the data with clinicians.
"Just showing the data caused a dramatic reduction in the number of pills prescribed," IU Health CMO Jonathan Gottlieb, MD, told 89.3 WFPL News.
In April 2019, IU Health saw 440,000 fewer opioid pills prescribed than in the first month of monitoring. The system's emergency departments have also reported a 30 percent decrease in opioid prescriptions. IU Health's ED in Frankfort, Ind., saw the largest drop at 90 percent.