The CDC’s recent release of national standards for prescription painkillers has prompted further debate about opioid addiction, including the effectiveness of opioid maintenance treatment (OMT). In this article, Paradigm Outcomes shares more about OMT, pain management and the benefits of treating the whole person.

Opioid maintenance treatment, by definition, uses chronic prescription opioids to actually replace the painkillers for which patients have become addicted. Proponents believe addiction is mostly biological, and that addicts need chronic opioids such as buprenorphine or methadone to become stable. It’s no surprise that this has led to a rise in pharmaceutical solutions to treating opioid addiction. Just because someone is taking opioids for chronic pain, even though the use could be problematic, doesn’t necessarily mean that he or she is an addict. Paradigm believes that prescribing replacement opioids puts an injured worker at risk for both short and long-term side effects, including a lifetime of dependence.

Opioid maintenance treatment isn’t really a cure, and it has a high relapse rate, so we take a different approach, one that focuses on the whole person. That’s why we advocate for psycho-social alternatives such as counseling, chronic pain management programs and abstinence programs. The goal is real long-term health, and with it, a manageable claim trail. The result is a better quality of life for injured workers.

For more information about Paradigm’s approach to complex pain, visit our website at ParadigmCorp.com.