Individual level predictive models for management of postoperative pain

Opportunity

Use claims data to gain an understanding of opioid use and prescription patterns across the community.

Project objective

This project examines opioids as a first-line treatment for postoperative pain management, and whether opioid exposure during and/or after surgery is a common gateway to addiction.

Researchers believe patterns of opioid use are likely associated with patient characteristics, patient history, and patterns of prescription across practices. Health Management System (HMS) is interested in taking advantage of linked claims data to gain a deep understanding into all these various facets of opioid use, prescription, and treatment.

Findings garnered from this work will allow researchers to use analytic modelling to determine the characteristics of successful treatment, which in turn can help inform the development of evidence-based treatments.