The NQP Opioid Stewardship Action Team will develop a playbook to help healthcare providers better manage their patients’ pain while reducing the risk of opioid addiction. This practical resource will build on current public- and private-sector efforts to address the opioid epidemic and focus on improving clinicians’ prescribing practices.

“As an emergency medicine doctor, I’ve seen first-hand the devastating effects of opioid misuse on our nation’s health, and it is imperative that we all work together to address it,” says Shantanu Agrawal, MD, MPhil, NQF’s president and CEO. “This new initiative will provide those on the frontlines with essential guidance for better, safer management of patients’ pain.”

Agrawal was an architect of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Opioid Misuse Strategy, issued in early 2017.

The NQP Opioid Stewardship Action Team will identify strategies and tactics for managing the care of individuals who are at high risk of becoming dependent on opioids and will advance quality measures that support providers and the care of patients with chronic pain. The NQP Opioid Stewardship Playbook will be available in March 2018.

NQF will model the NQP Opioid Stewardship Action Team after other successful efforts to tackle national healthcare priorities. Last year, NQP issued a playbook to help hospitals strengthen antibiotic stewardship programs and released an issue brief to help providers, communities, and policymakers ensure that the preferences and values of individuals with advanced illness are at the center of care decisions.

The NQP Leadership Consortium ranked this initiative to address the nation’s growing opioid crisis as NQP’s next key area of focus during its June 2017 in-person meeting.

Learn more about how to participate on this new Action Team and submit a statement of interest by August 10, 2017. NQF will notify selected Action Team participants by September 1, 2017.