Chief Clinical Officer for myMatrixx, Phil Walls, was quoted in a July 31st article for Business Insurance Magazine. In the piece, which discusses injured workers using opioids and the difficulties they face finding physicians, Walls shares several insights from the perspective of the workers’ comp industry. In particular, he stresses the importance of a thorough physical examination and medical review from prescribers before writing an opioid prescription.
The article cites a University of Michigan study published in July of this year, which found that 40% of people who were on opioid painkillers were rejected as potential patients by physicians in group health. Experts in the workers’ comp field estimated that injured workers likely faced the same obstacles. While Walls is quoted as raising some concerns with the methodology of the study, he stresses that if even half of those patients face a barrier to primary care, it still represents “a significant impact.”
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