Ofirmev Decreases Length of Stay, Costs Compared With Traditional Opioids After Surgery

The intravenous acetaminophen (IV-APAP) Ofirmev has been shown to decrease hospital length of stay (LOS), opioid-related complications, and overall costs compared with traditional opioid analgesics.

At the 41st Annual Regional Anesthesiology and Acute Pain Meeting, Mallinckrodt presented a poster entitled “Estimating the Effect of Intravenous Acetaminophen on Length of Stay and Inpatient Costs.” The study was intended to model the effects of moving away from treating acute surgical pain with opioid analgesics toward IV-APAP in a multi-modal pain strategy.

“Opioid analgesics are a mainstay for acute pain management, but their usage is associated with adverse events which may increase costs,” researchers from The Advisory Board and Mallinckrodt wrote.

In its retrospective analysis, Mallinckrodt used data from The Advisory Board Company using approximately 2.2 million inpatient encounters from 297 hospitals between 2012 and 2014. The sample included adults 18 years and older who were admitted for cardiovascular, colorectal, general, OBGYN, orthopedic, and spinal surgeries. The researchers utilized information for individuals who had both a 1-level reduction in opioid use (high to medium, medium to low, and low to none), and the use of IV-APAP for surgical pain.

There was an 18% reduction in LOS, a 28.5% reduction in complication rates, and an estimated savings of $4.7 million in aggregate.

These results should be helpful for those seeking to improve patient outcomes and lower costs for the hospital system.