Becker’s Hospital Review: Default EMR setting could result in less ED opioid prescribing

“Opioid prescriptions that contain a large number of tablets in the first fill often lead to long-term use and more leftover pills, but implementing a default setting in the EMR that limits the number of tablets in a prescription could ‘nudge’ physicians to prescribe fewer opioids, according to a recent study. ‘Our results represent a promising and much-needed scalable approach that could successfully nudge physicians managing acute pain to prescribe smaller doses of opioid medications for those who need them,’ lead author M. Kit Delgado, MD, an assistant professor of emergency medicine and epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, said in a news release.” Read the rest at Becker’s Health IT & CIO Review.