Workers' comp firm tries to ensure opioids are not overprescribed

PHILADELPHIA – For many, the path from opioid use to heroin addiction begins at work when an injury sustained on the job is treated, or rather, over-treated, with painkillers such as OxyContin or Vicodin.

"So, the original injury might have been a back, a knee, a shoulder that obviously you would hope could be treated, and [the worker] healed and returned to employment," explained Peter C. Madeja, 57, chief executive and president of Genex Services in suburban Philadelphia.

Genex handles workers' compensation claims for businesses as they try to keep medical costs down and return employees to work.

In March, at a time of increased public attention to the issue, Genex introduced a new service, Medication Safety 2.0, to monitor and prevent opioid addiction.

Q: What happens to the injured workers?

A: If there were too many narcotics prescribed, in many situations an addiction developed as a secondary issue. And that became even more damning than the original injury. We're often brought in where there is a related issue of addiction or abuse.

Q: Because you monitor the workers' compensation claims, you get to see all patients' prescription histories. What does Genex's new service do with that information?

Q: How do you communicate this to doctors?

A: Between our nursing staff and our physician advisers, we'll work proactively with the physician to try to create a better solution. We'll actually accompany the injured worker to appointments.

Q: Any other strategy?

A: If we see the patient is treating with a number of physicians, there's where one of the issues has come in. Physicians don't always know that, and all of a sudden [the patient is] getting prescriptions from three physicians. The benefit of our involvement is we're able to spot that.

Q: You read about companies forcing injured employees back to work too quickly, or firing them when they get hurt. What do you see?

Q: At first, you and some partners owned Genex. Then you sold it to a large public company. Next, it was owned by a series of three more public companies. Finally, in 2007, you, your team, and private equity investors repurchased Genex, which was recapitalized with new investors in 2014. Through that, how did you maintain Genex's culture?