The European Commission also said that from July 2014 operators will have to open their networks to providers from another EU state, which would give consumers more providers to choose from.
More opioid prescriptions were filled by women (1 144 080/1 808 355; 63.3%), with little change in this percentage as beneficiaries received opioid prescriptions from more providers.
Dual eligible beneficiaries comprised a larger proportion of beneficiaries who filled opioid prescriptions from four or more providers (85 807/143 344; 59.9%) than beneficiaries who filled opioid prescriptions from only one provider (201 138/474 806; 42.4%) (P<0.001).
I suspect we'll see far more of these from far more providers in the next few months.
Furthermore, among 143 344 beneficiaries with opioid prescriptions from four or more providers, 110 671 (77.2%, 76.9% to 77.4%) received concurrent prescriptions from two or more of those providers.
Results Among 1 208 100 beneficiaries with an opioid prescription, 418 530 (34.6%) filled prescriptions from two providers, 171 420 (14.2%) from three providers, and 143 344 (11.9%) from four or more providers.
Among 1 208 100 beneficiaries who filled more than one opioid prescription, 39.3% filled prescriptions from one provider, 34.6% from two providers, 14.2% from three providers, and 11.9% from four or more providers.
Prescribing of opioids by multiple providers was common: 418 530 (23.1%) beneficiaries filled opioid prescriptions from two providers, 171 420 (9.5%) from three providers, and 143 344 (7.9%) from four or more providers (table 1).
About 22% sought care from more than one provider, including 6% from 3 or more providers.
A substantial proportion of beneficiaries received concurrent opioid prescriptions from two or more providers.
