Narrow CDC Opioid Guidance Said to Feed Prescription ‘Fallacy’

Setting universal thresholds for opioid prescriptions harms patients with pain and does nothing to slow the raging overdose epidemic, the American Medical Association said Thursday in a plea to the CDC for new guidance.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released guidelines in 2016 recommending that primary care providers who prescribe opioids for chronic pain exercise caution and consider how the risks of a prescription measure up to the benefits.

The CDC is due to revise the guidelines and is expected to post them for public comment at the end of this year. The AMA is pushing back against ...