Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/307240 
Year of Publication: 
2024
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 17416
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We study the impact of an information intervention on opioid prescribing using a preregistered research design and comprehensive nationwide register data. The intervention involved a personal letter sent to all Finnish physicians who had prescribed oxycodone or fentanyl to a patient who had purchased at least three months' supply of these medications in the previous year. These physicians were randomized into the treatment and control groups. The letter was sent to physicians in the treatment group in May 2019, and the control group received the same letter six months later. The intervention letter contained information about opioid use and proper pain treatment using opioids based on national clinical guidelines. While the intervention showed no significant effects in the whole study population, we detected heterogeneity in effect with respect to preregistered physician characteristics. We observed a 22% reduction in fentanyl and oxycodone prescriptions to new patients among physicians receiving their first information letter, a 4.8% reduction in any opioid prescriptions among high-volume prescribers as well as an increase of 7% in nonopioid analgesic prescribing among low-volume prescribers. These results highlight the challenges policymakers encounter when attempting to sustainably reduce opioid prescriptions and mitigate harmful clinical practices through repeated information-based interventions.
Subjects: 
opioid prescribing
information intervention
randomized experiment
JEL: 
I10
I12
I19
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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