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The six key work areas you need to redesign to improve your clinic’s management of patients who are on long-term opioid therapy are below. To learn more about the Six Building Blocks, check out this JABFM article about the development of the Six Building Blocks, this Annals of Family Medicine article on the prescribing results of the program, and this JABFM article about work life experience results of the program.

If you need to skip ahead, click on a block to jump to that section.

Leadership and consensusDemonstrate leadership support and build organization-wide consensus to prioritize more selective and cautious opioid prescribing. Policies, patient agreements, and workflowsRevise, align, and implement clinic policies, patient agreements, and workflows for health care team members to improve opioid prescribing and care of patients with chronic pain. Tracking and monitoring patient careImplement proactive population management before, during, and between clinic visits of all patients on long-term opioid therapy. Planned, patient-centered visitsPrepare and plan for the clinic visits of all patients on long-term opioid therapy. Support patient-centered, empathic communication for care of patients on long-term opioid therapy. Caring for patients with complex needsDevelop policies and resources to ensure that patients who develop opioid use disorder and/or who need mental/behavioral health resources are identified and provided with appropriate care, either in the primary care setting or by outside referral. Measuring successContinuously monitor progress and improve with experience.