Intermountain Healthcare announced Tuesday it will be doling out fewer opioids over the next year and a half, with a goal of reducing the Utah-based healthcare system’s prescriptions for acute pain by 40 percent.
This move — which comes as opioid addiction use and overdose deaths are skyrocketing in Utah and across the U.S. — could have a sizable impact, given Intermountain’s reach through its 22 hospitals and 180 clinics in the Intermountain West.
Intermountain officials said they plan to not only alter the prescribing practices of its physicians, but also develop and recommend alternative forms of pain management to patients, further lowering addiction risks.