National Harbor, Md.—State Medicaid programs may want to implement daily opioid morphine equivalent (ME) limits for recipients to improve safe usage of opioids, especially for those who have a history of respiratory distress (RD), according to a recent study of more than 230,000 adults.
Rates of acute RD from opioids increase most at a daily opioid ME of 90 mg or higher, and rates of acute RD are higher among Medicaid recipients with a history of RD, the study found. These results were