Ohio Leaders Recognize Business’ Important Role in Opioid Battle

(Winter 2017) The opioid epidemic we are facing is so pervasive it will not be fixed by a single, or even several, legislative bills or approaches – even within a single state.  Borrowing from the infamous African proverb, “It takes a village …,” it will take the efforts from numerous entities and organizations, e.g., statewide agencies, legislators, schools, treatment providers, families, etc., to turn this tide.

Over the last six years a lot has been done to curb the opioid epidemic in Ohio – closing pill mills, setting guidelines for opioid prescribing, implementing prescription monitoring and compliance systems and mounting campaigns to get opioids off our streets, just to name a few – making substantial gains in the battle.  The state and other organizations have also recognized the value of involving the business community in the fight and have taken steps to encourage businesses to take action.

Systems Realize Businesses Are Part of the Big-Picture Solution

As we have said many times, the business sector is critical in this battle. For inside the walls of a business are the community’s adults, some of whom are within the highest risk group for developing alcohol and other drug (AOD) problems (i.e., 18 – 25-year-olds). They are also parents (the most powerful entities to prevent AOD problems with children), consumers, tax-payers and voters. Healthier, drug-free adults mean healthier, drug-free children, schools, neighborhoods and communities.

Efforts on the business front have indeed aided in the battle.  In 2011, the Ohio Bureau of Worker’s Compensation (BWC) determined there were 8,029 injured workers in its system who were dependent on opioids.  They took action to reduce this number by establishing several systems, including

• adjusting formularies of BWC-approved drugs,
• requiring best prescribing practices,
• monitoring patient and practitioners’ application and use of these products,
• covering opioid overdose reversal drugs costs and
• providing opioid dependence treatment for up to 18 months.

By the end of 2016, these efforts resulted in a 51% reduction in the number of injured workers receiving opioid prescriptions, a 49% reduction in the number of opioid doses that have been prescribed through the BWC system to injured workers, and reduced the number of workers dependent on opioids to 4,101. Impressive impact and one that trickles down to businesses in terms of keeping workers employed and saving money on prescription drug costs.

Those impressive milestones are igniting fires.  Just recently Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced a 12-point strategy called Recovery Ohio, aimed at the opioid crisis.  In the plan, there are two points specifically targeting the workforce.

• Encourage employers to accommodate employees seeking treatment for a substance use disorder.
• Offer employers incentives for employing individuals in recovery.

DeWine is asking the drug makers and distribution organizations state departments including the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation to subsidize his proposed strategy.

Employee Resources: Knowledge is Power

Less easy to measure impact, but critical to the battle, are the education, prevention and early intervention efforts occurring throughout the state.  Over the years a number of entities and organizations, have teamed up to develop resources and programs to help businesses and their employees.  Working Partners® has been fortunate to be involved with several of these efforts.

In 2014, Cardinal Health Foundation commissioned Working Partners® to develop a 60-minute course, called Dose of Reality, to help employees learn and become critical, responsible users of prescription painkillers.  Ohio’s Criminal Justice system took notice and had that course adapted and made it available specifically for Ohio’s law enforcement and safety service forces.

Recognizing the important role businesses play in reducing opioid use, Cardinal Health Foundation along with The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy, as part of their GenerationRx education and outreach initiative, also asked us to develop GenerationRxWorkplace.com.  A single site where employers can access research, education, drug-free workplace services and collateral campaign materials to support their workforces from becoming ensnared in the opioid crisis.

In 2016, the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services partnered with us to do the Working Partners® Drug-Free Workforce Community Initiative, designed to help grow Ohio’s drug-free workforce, in 17 Ohio counties. The year-long project yielded

• A first-of-its-kind (anywhere in the nation) workplace survey wherein 3,229 Ohio business representatives shared their perceptions, attitudes, knowledge and practices of businesses as they related to preventing and addressing the harmful use of opioids and other drugs in the workplace and workforce.
• Technical assistance and consultation for 70 businesses to improve or implement drug-free workplaces to be operating with best practices. These companies directly impact over 10,000 employees and their families.
• Education for 279 system and community leaders from 200 organizations about issues related to substance use and its impact on the workplace and workforce. This common language and understanding helped to integrate the efforts of a myriad of related resources.

The Ohio Chamber of Commerce is also committing resources for change and in 2018 will be releasing a toolkit to help Ohio businesses be better prepared to prevent and respond to the opioid problem.  Two courses will form the nucleus of the toolkit, titled Dose of Reality for EMPLOYERS:  A Toolkit to Help Mitigate the Risks Associated with Ohio’s Opioid Epidemic:

1. The Dose of Reality education course for employees mentioned above will have quizzes for learners to test their knowledge and satisfy, along with other states and authorities, Ohio’s Bureau of Workers’ Compensation’s Drug-Free Safety Program employee education compliance requirement.
2. A course, developed by Working Partners®, to support employers as they refine or retool their drug-free workplace operations in response to the opioid epidemic.

The toolkit will be made available for all Ohio businesses, regardless of their relationship with the Chamber, and empower businesses to join a coordinated push against opioid misuse and abuse.

The Business Village

All this focus on business is well deserved. Not only are businesses impacted if employees misuse or abuse opioids, but through workplace injuries, they could be paying for the care that leads an employee down the path to abuse.  The projects mentioned above, and many others are making serious inroads in the battle.  The more businesses get involved in the issue (and Working Partners® will continue to support and champion projects with this goal) the better off our state will be.  Fighting the opioid epidemic takes everyone, it’s time to make sure businesses do our part as well.

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