Starting on July 1, theOhio Bureau of Worker’s Compensation will no longer pay for a powerful painkiller that’s at the center of the opioid crisis in the Buckeye State.
Ohio BWC spokesman Bill Teets said the drug, Oxycontin, and its generic equivilent, oxycodone, is being removed from the list of drugs it approves for injured workers.
“They are replacing it with Xtampza which is a sustained release form of oxycodone but unlike other opioids, it is much more difficult to manipulate - crush, snort or inject it. It basically makes it much more difficult to abuse,” Teets said.
Teets said patients now on the drug can use an appeal process to continue it. He said there’s good news for Ohio’s employers too, because they will be getting an overall 20 percent reduction in the base rate in their premiums. He says that’s the largest rate decrease in sixty years.
