The Complementarity of Health Information and Health IT for Reducing Opioid-Related Mortality and Morbidity

In response to the opioid crisis, each U.S. state has implemented a prescription drug monitoring program (PMP) to provide health providers with patients’ controlled substance prescription information. I study whether health information technology (IT) complements the availability of patient information in PMPs to reduce opioid-related mortality and morbidity. I construct a novel data set that records state health IT policies that improve PMP data interoperability in cross-system integration and interstate data sharing. Utilizing difference-in-differences methods, I find that health IT policies reduce opioid-related mortality and morbidity. The inpatient morbidity reductions are most substantial in states that created PMPs but never mandated their use. The impacts are also strongest for the most vulnerable groups – middle-age and low- to middle-income patients and are robust when stratified by age, income, location, and insurer type. The total benefits from improved interoperability far exceed the associated costs.

Keywords: opioid crisis; prescription drug monitoring; health information technology; technology policy

JEL Classification: I1 (Health), K2 (Regulation and Business Law), O3 (Innovation • Research and Development • Technological Change • Intellectual Property Rights)

SSRN access: http://ssrn.com/abstract=3176809