Department of Veterans Affairs Opioid Prescribing Data | Department of Veterans Affairs Open Data Portal

The interactive map shows the data differences between 2012-2018, and does not include Veterans’ personal information. The posted information shows opioid-dispensing rates for each VA facility and how much those rates have decreased over time. <br><br>Prescribing Rates:<br>Opioid prescribing rates are calculated by dividing the number of Veterans who received any opioid prescription by the total number of Veterans who received a prescription from that pharmacy within the specified time period.<br>Percent Change<br><br>The percent change represents the relative decrease (or increase) in opioid prescribing rates between 2012 and 2018. Overall, 99% of VA facilities have decreased prescribing rates since 2012.<br><br>Regional Non-VA Prescribing Rate:<br>It is well-established that opioid prescribing rates and abuse vary across different parts of the country. Regional comparison categories were generated using publicly available data from the Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services (CMS). CMS reports opioid prescribing rates by state, which are calculated by dividing the number of Medicare Part D claims for opioid medications by the total number of prescription claims.<br><br>Data for states are aggregated in to 5 groups by CMS. The "Low" Regional Non-VA comparison category represents the 40% of states with the lowest prescribing rates for Medicare beneficiaries. The "High" Regional Non-VA comparison category represents the 40% of states with the highest prescribing rates. The "Average" Regional Non-VA comparison category represents the 20% of states in the middle. The most current available comparison data is from 2015.<br><br>"***Microdata: Yes Level of Analysis: Group - Facilities Variables Present: Yes File Layout: .csv Codebook: Yes Methods: Yes Weights (with appropriate documentation): n/a Publications: Yes Aggregate Data: Yes