Problem solving

Thursday, November 01, 2018 12:16 PM

Outcomes from the first multi-specialty physician convening on the opioid crisis

by Chet Seward, CMS Chief Strategy Officer

The Colorado Medical Society convened physicians from across the state, representing different specialties and practice types, in a professionally facilitated meeting to help develop future physician-driven strategies to help reverse the opioid crisis. The convening was made possible thanks to a grant from the Consortium for Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention. The Oct. 6 gathering was the first of two planned convenings that are intended to develop specific recommendations to the consortium.

The purpose for the convenings is to collectively develop and commit to concrete, meaningful changes that demonstrate leadership in dealing with the opioid health crisis. The October meeting featured a professionally facilitated mix of small and large group discussions in a day-long burst of information sharing, brainstorming and problem solving including:

• Identifying examples of prior physician-led efforts that resulted in positive reforms, practices or legislation to identify characteristics of successful approaches;
• Providing an update on the latest work of the legislative interim committee on opioids;
• Finding agreement on focus areas and related key question in four areas including prevention, intervention, treatment and harm reduction to help reverse the opioid crisis; and
• Beginning development of a list of concrete, easy-to-execute actions physicians can adopt that make a positive difference to our selected areas of focus.

Next steps include refining these ideas, sharing them with physicians and using another convening in early 2019 to finalize recommendations to the consortium. Thank you to the physicians who have already participated. Contact chet_seward@cms.org for information on the second meeting. And stay tuned for a full report in a 2019 issue of Colorado Medicine.