Yesterday I posted an article comparing opioid prescriptions in Indiana and Kentucky by specialty based on the 2013 Medicare Part-D database. Among other things, I concluded that Kentucky providers prescribe more opioids in general than Indiana providers. On further review I discovered that the Kentucky data, but not the Indiana data, included the drug tramadol (brand name Ultram). This would increase the apparent number of prescriptions in Kentucky and their attendant costs. Thus, while I believe most of the intra-state conclusions and my general opinions remain valid, I need to recalculate the Kentucky numbers without tramadol to make a fair comparison. Accordingly, I will redo the Kentucky numbers and tables without tramadol and repost.
I apologize for this embarrassing oversight.
Peter Hasselbacher
[Addendum Aug 30, 2015. The original article and its supporting tables have been updated with tramadol removed from the Kentucky dataset. None of the original conclusions or opinions are materially changed.]