Preventing Opioid Deaths: An Opportunity to Integrate Health and Disability Management

By Glenn Pransky, MD

Scientific Advisor
Lincoln Financial Group

Prescription opioid abuse has increased, with a surge in deaths from high-potency synthetic opioids, resulting in over 150 opioid-related deaths each day in the United States — nearly a four-fold increase over the last 15 years.¹ Of 10.6 million Americans with opioid use disorder in 2016, over 62% were employed.² The costs to employers in terms of absence, poor work quality and productivity, occupational injuries, healthcare costs, and other losses are considerable.³ Unfortunately, employed persons are only half as likely to receive treatment for substance abuse as unemployed persons.²

Guidelines are available on how to achieve a drug-free workplace, including workplace policies, drug screening, and employee education.⁴,⁵ Yet most employers feel unprepared to identify opioid use disorders in the workplace, and support treatment and recovery.⁶

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