NarxCare drug addiction assessment system wrongly denies patients opioids

NarxCare, a software system that uses patient data, drug use data, and metadata to determine the risk of drug addiction, was accused of denying users opioids on the basis it wrongly reckoned they were at risk of addiction. 

Developed by Bamboo Health (formerly named Appriss), NarxCare is used across several US states to track prescriptions for drugs such as opioids and purports to identify and flag patients with ‘drug-shopping’ behaviours - people who might be lying to doctors about the pain they’re in in order to get opioids.

However, in some cases, the system recommended denying painkillers to people who suffer from severe pain and have no history of drug abuse, according to WIRED, thereby denying patients health benefits, worsening their health and leading to accusations that it can be inaccurate and unfair. 

The system was also accused of reinforcing existing racial and gender biases. 

News, commentary, analysis 🗞️

• https://www.wired.com/story/opioid-drug-addiction-algorithm-chronic-pain/

• https://www.sicknote.co/p/the-algorithm-that-narcs-on-you

• https://read.deeplearning.ai/the-batch/issue-106/

• https://www.painnewsnetwork.org/stories/2021/8/31/the-tangled-mess-of-prescription-opioid-guidelines

• https://filtermag.org/pain-patients-opioids-fear/

• https://www.reddit.com/r/medicine/comments/p2ofkc/a_sweeping_drug_addiction_risk_algorithm_has/