10 Hospitals in Colorado Cut Opioid Prescriptions Sharply

Pilot program exceeds doctors' expectations in reducing prescriptions of addictive drugs

Dr. Don Stader is an emergency medicine doctor and associate medical director at Swedish Medical Center in Englewood, Colo. He’s also an opiate consultant for the Colorado Hospital Association. John Daley/CPR News

DENVER—One of the most common reasons patients head to an emergency room is pain. In response, doctors may try something simple at first, like ibuprofen or acetaminophen. If that wasn’t effective, the second line of defense has been the big guns.

“Percocet or Vicodin,” explained ER doctor Peter Bakes of Swedish Medical Center, “medications that certainly have contributed to the rising opioid epidemic.”

Now physicians are looking for alternatives to help cut opioid use and curtail potential abuse. Ten Colorado hospitals, including Swedish in Englewood, Colorado, participated in a six-month pilot project designed to cut opioid use.