Opioid Prescribing Guidelines Updated by CDC

As of November 4^th, 2022, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have updated their CDC Clinical Practice Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Pain — United States, 2022 replacing the 2016 publication. This Guideline “provides recommendations for clinicians providing pain care, including those prescribing opioids, for outpatients [at least 18 years old] and includes recommendations for managing acute (duration of <1 month), subacute (duration of 1–3 months), and chronic (duration of >3 months) pain”[1].

The new guideline addresses four key areas:

1. “Determining whether to initiate opioids for pain
2. Selecting opioids and determining opioid dosages
3. Deciding duration of initial opioid prescription and conducting follow-up, and
4. Assessing risk and addressing potential harms of opioid use”1.

For more resources on prescribing opioids, please see the MAT for OUD Tools and Resources.