In November of 2022, the CDC made available their “new and improved” guideline concerning the use of opioids and pain, stating that, since its original guideline on this topic, new evidence has come to the fore. Additionally, it addresses several “misinterpretations” of the 2016 guideline. The guideline applies to all physicians who treat pain by prescribing opioids, and therefore applies to podiatrists who prescribe opioids to patients recovering from surgery with fractures and other traumatic injuries to the foot and ankle.
In a new article published in the March 2023 edition of Podiatry Management, Frier Levitt attorney and licensed podiatrist Lawrence F. Kobak discusses the CDC’s new opioid prescribing guidelines as they relate to podiatry, including which practices it applies to, the treatment of acute and sub-acute pain, reduced morphine equivalent units (“MEUs”) set forth by the CDC’s new guidelines, and other considerations for podiatrists.
Read the article here.