Updated and expanded recommendations for clinicians providing pain care for adult outpatients with short- and long-term pain were released yesterday by the CDC. Published in the CDC Clinical Practice Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Pain, the guideline addresses the following areas: determining whether to initiate opioids for pain, selecting opioids and determining opioid dosages, deciding duration of initial opioid prescription and conducting follow-up, and assessing risk and addressing potential harms of opioid use. The Clinical Practice Guideline supports the primary prevention pillar of the HHS Overdose Prevention Strategy. The publication updates and replaces the CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain released in 2016.
