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The Workers' Compensation Court approved treatment guidelines for the use of Schedule II drugs.

A model law for states to address high-priced repackaged drugs being sold from physicians' offices may be forthcoming.

Early detection, communication with medical providers, and establishing an exit strategy are key to helping injured workers avoid opioid abuse. A workers' comp insurer has developed a unique program that has already generated successful results.

As workers' comp stakeholders look for solutions to opioid abuse among injured workers, state legislatures are increasingly getting into the discussion. New Mexico is among the latest to consider legislation to curb opioid prescriptions throughout the state's health care system.

The Bureau of Workers' Compensation proposed rules allowing the establishment of a coordinated services program that requires injured workers to obtain prescription medications reimbursed by the bureau from a single designated pharmacy or prescriber.

Pharmacy comprised approximately 19 percent -- $5.4 billion -- of the total $30 billion workers' comp medical expenses in 2010, according to a new survey of workers' comp payers from CompPharma LLC, a workers' comp pharmacy advocacy and education firm.

Drug costs trended lower for many workers' comp payers in 2010. Nevertheless, executives from insurance and third-party administrators have more to say about challenges in workers' comp pharmacy management than they have in the eight years that a prescription drug management survey has been conducted.

The annual cumulative dose and cost of opioids per workers' comp claim increased substantially from 1999 to 2011, according to a new study. The driving factor was the increased volume of longer-acting opioids to treat chronic pain.

In Louisiana, a worker can be found to be intoxicated by a drug for which she has a valid prescription.

Authorities in Oklahoma, Texas, and Ohio are also taking action to address prescription drug overdoses.

A searchable database is aimed at curbing the prescription drug problem in New Jersey.

One of the emerging cost drivers in the workers' comp system is repackaged drugs, mainly dispensed through physicians' offices. Estimates put the cost at between $700 million and $1 billion annually.

"Prescription drug abuse is the fastest growing drug problem in the United States," says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The increase has been "driven by increased use of a class of prescription drugs called opioid analgesics."

In North Carolina, death benefits are available when the toxic buildup of medication prescribed to manage an injured worker's pain resulting from a compensable injury contributed to his death.

Reimbursements for repackaged or relabeled prescription drugs add an estimated $62 million in annual costs to Florida's workers' comp system, according to NCCI. With that in mind, lawmakers are considering legislation that would close what supporters call a legal loophole that allows for the higher prices, possibly reducing system costs by 2.5 percent.

One of the biggest issues emerging in workers' comp discussions of late is the use, misuse, and abuse of narcotics by injured workers, specifically -- opioids.

Nevada will soon implement new procedures to address two issues that are creating angst in the workers' comp system throughout the nation: chronic pain and the use of opioids.

The Department of Labor and Industries proposed new rules regarding the safe handling of hazardous drugs.

Deaths from overdoses of opioid pain relievers now exceed fatalities from heroin and cocaine combined, the government reports.

Fresh on the heels of a call for the state Legislature to target costs associated with physician-dispensed repackaged drugs, two lawmakers have proposed a cap.