Utah opioid law authorizes insurers to write guidelines

Utah Gov. Gary Herbert on Monday signed into law legislation allowing insurers, including those that provide workers compensation coverage, to establish evidence-based guidelines for opioid prescribing. 

House Bill 90, sponsored by state Rep. Raymond Ward, R-Bountiful, “authorizes commercial insurers, the state Medicaid program, workers' compensation insurers, and public employee insurers to implement policies to minimize the risk of prescribing certain controlled substances” and specifically names opioids as the drug that the law aims to curb. 

The law requires that insurers by Sept. 1 of each year starting in 2017 submit a written report to the Utah Insurance Department regarding its policy, providing a “general description of the policy.” The law allows insurers to share with one another their policies and that the policies may include the 2016 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Guidelines for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain or the Utah Guidelines on Prescribing Opioids.