It’s mainly prescribed (or over-prescribed) by physicians: opioid painkillers like OxyContin or Vicodin. Health experts nationwide are increasingly alarmed by the impact opioid abuse is having on both employees and their employers.
Consider some sobering statistics: the American Society of Addiction Medicine estimates that misuse of these painkillers costs the U.S. economy $55.7 billion a year, half of which is borne by employers, who lose $10 billion annually, on average, from absenteeism and reduced productivity levels alone.
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), some 2 million Americans (age 12 and older) were dependent on, or abused, opioid pain relievers in 2013. More than 28,000 died in 2014 from overdoses of painkillers, heroin and other opioid substances.
A recent survey of companies in Indiana revealed that a whopping 80% of employers across that state have experienced problems with employee addiction to prescription opioids. In addition to incurring expenses associated with absenteeism and lost wages, employers have to shell out higher healthcare costs for employees who abuse painkillers–the price of which rose dramatically in 2014.
At the same time, employers may be in a position to provide some relief to their staffers with an addiction problem, and their bottom lines. They can press providers in their networks of medical, occupational health and workers’ compensation programs to utilize strict guidelines for prescribing painkillers. Benefits professionals can initiate conversations and employee communications about the dangers of prescription-drug abuse, and offer confidential help, mainly through employee assistance programs.
Read the full article from Workforce.com.