Department of Veterans Affairs Opioid Prescribing Data | Department of Veterans Affairs Open Data Portal

Name: Department of Veterans Affairs Opioid Prescribing Data | Department of Veterans Affairs Open Data Portal
Published: 2025-03-12
License: https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/pdm

Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s) United States Department of Veterans Affairs

Version: View help for Version V3

Name	File Type	Size	Last Modified
Department of Veterans Affairs Opioid Prescribing Data _ Department of Veterans Affairs Open Data Portal.pdf	application/pdf	415.1 KB	03/12/2025 06:31:AM
Opioid_Prescribing_Rates_at_VA_Facilities_2012_-_2018_20250312.csv	text/csv	23.1 KB	03/12/2025 06:22:AM

Project Citation:

United States Department of Veterans Affairs. Department of Veterans Affairs Opioid Prescribing Data | Department of Veterans Affairs Open Data Portal. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2026-03-23. https://doi.org/10.3886/E222523V3

Project Description

Project Title: Department of Veterans Affairs Opioid Prescribing Data | Department of Veterans Affairs Open Data Portal

Summary: The interactive map shows the data differences between 2012-2018, and does not include Veterans’ personal information. The posted information shows opioid-dispensing rates for each VA facility and how much those rates have decreased over time.

Prescribing Rates:

Opioid prescribing rates are calculated by dividing the number of Veterans who received any opioid prescription by the total number of Veterans who received a prescription from that pharmacy within the specified time period.

Percent Change

The percent change represents the relative decrease (or increase) in opioid prescribing rates between 2012 and 2018. Overall, 99% of VA facilities have decreased prescribing rates since 2012.

Regional Non-VA Prescribing Rate:

It is well-established that opioid prescribing rates and abuse vary across different parts of the country. Regional comparison categories were generated using publicly available data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). CMS reports opioid prescribing rates by state, which are calculated by dividing the number of Medicare Part D claims for opioid medications by the total number of prescription claims.

Data for states are aggregated in to 5 groups by CMS. The "Low" Regional Non-VA comparison category represents the 40% of states with the lowest prescribing rates for Medicare beneficiaries. The "High" Regional Non-VA comparison category represents the 40% of states with the highest prescribing rates. The "Average" Regional Non-VA comparison category represents the 20% of states in the middle. The most current available comparison data is from 2015.

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Microdata: Yes

Level of Analysis: Group - Facilities

Variables Present: Yes

File Layout: .csv

Codebook: Yes

Methods: Yes

Weights (with appropriate documentation): n/a

Publications: Yes

Aggregate Data: Yes

Original Distribution URL: https://www.data.va.gov/stories/s/4tx7-hu2d

Scope of Project

Subject Terms: opiod prescription

Geographic Coverage: United States

Time Period(s): 2012 – 2018

Related Publications

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Published Versions

V3 [2026-03-23]

V2 [2025-08-12]

V1 [2025-03-12]

Export Metadata

Dublin Core

DDI 2.5

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This material is distributed exactly as received from the data depositor. ICPSR has not reviewed, checked, or processed this material. For additional information about the study, please contact the investigator(s) directly. If you have questions about the accessibility of materials distributed by ICPSR or require further assistance, please visit ICPSR's Accessibility Center.