Prescription Opioid Discontinuation: Honoring Patient Insights and Experience to Support Safe and Caring Transitions -- Decision Aid Pilot

Because of recent policies to decrease opioid use, some people using long-term opioid therapy (LTOT) are encouraged or required to stop (discontinue) taking opioids. That has led experts to be concerned that patients whose LTOT is discontinued could have untreated pain, turn to other substance use and possibly illicit opioids, or have worsened mental health symptoms leading to suicide. To guide safer policies, guidelines, and care, this study will interview patients and doctors about discontinuing LTOT and use the results to develop a patient-centered decision aid (DA) to improve patient-provider communication around discontinuation of LTOT. Once the DA is finalized, it will be pilot tested with a group of 30 patients who are currently on LTOT. The pilot will assess DA implementation feasibility; acceptability; knowledge transfer; and ability to successfully foster positive, patient-centered conversations about opioid discontinuation.

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Key information

Conditions

Opioid Tapering Chronic Pain Neurologic Manifestations Pain Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms Signs and Symptoms

Age range

18 year and older

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute

Seattle, Washington, 98101, United States

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: No

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

EHR-based inclusion criteria:

age 18 or older
LTOT in the past 18 months (LTOT is ≥60 days of ≥50 MEDs day in each of 2 consecutive 90-day periods with medication treatment for OUD excluded)

Inclusion criteria

confirmed by participant

Have been taking opioids for chronic pain for at least 6 months
Able to speak and read English

EHR-based exclusion criteria:

cancer diagnosis in the last 5 years (excluding non-melanoma skin cancers)
current palliative or hospice care
cognitive disability
psychiatric hospitalization in the last year
surgery in the last 6 months
current residence in an inpatient rehabilitation or skilled nursing facility

Exclusion criteria

determined by study

participated in an interview for Aim 1 of this study

Treatment and study plan

Patient-centered Decision Aid to support long-term opioid therapy tapering

Behavioral

Earlier aims of this study developed a patient-centered Decision Aid (DA) that uses stories of people who benefited from discontinuing and clear explanations of evidence for key choices to decrease stigma; empower patients; increase engagement and productive interaction with providers in decision making; and reduce fear, anger and anxiety about tapering. The DA will be designed to support conversations that providers often find challenging and help providers maintain patient trust and satisfaction. Participants in the pilot test will be asked to: 1) complete a pre-DA survey, 2) review the DA, 3) have a guided conversation with a trained study interventionist with a behavioral health background who is trained on how to use the DA, and 4) complete a post-DA survey.

Primary outcomes

Acceptability of DA

Time frame: 1-2 weeks

We will use Matlock et al.'s acceptability ranking scale to assess the acceptability of the DA to patients

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Kaiser Permanente

Other

Collaborators

University of Arkansas
University of Washington

Registry information

Official study title

Patient Perspectives on Prescription Opioid Discontinuation: Understanding and Promoting Safe Transitions

Acronym: PHOENIX

Important dates

Study start: 2025
Primary completion: 2026
Study completion: 2026
First posted: Oct 1, 2025
Registry last updated: Nov 5, 2025

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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