As of July 1, the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation will no longer pay for a powerful painkiller that’s at the center of the opioid crisis here in the Buckeye State.
Ohio BWC spokesman Bill Teets says the drug, Oxycontin and its generic equivilent, oxycodone, is being removed from the list of drugs it approves for injured workers.
“They are replacing it with Xtampza, which is a sustained release form of oxycodon. But unlike other opioids, it is much more difficult to manipulate - crush, snort or inject it. It basically makes it much more difficult to abuse," Teets says.
Teets says patients now on the drug can use an appeal process to continue it.
And he says there’s good news for Ohio’s employers too because they will be getting an overall 20% reduction in the base rate in their premiums. He says that’s the largest rate decrease in sixty years.
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