Those were the major findings in a Vital Signs release from the CDC, which focused on opioid prescribing. The data looked at trends through 2015, which notably does not include the agency’s 2016 opioid guidelines. The numbers will serve as a baseline to measure the impact of those guidelines going forward, said acting CDC Director Anne Schuchat, MD.

“The bottom line remains, we still have too many people getting these opioid prescriptions for too many days at too high a dose,” she said.

In a statement, Patrice A. Harris, head of the American Medical Association’s opioid task force, said she was pleased to see the report confirm that physicians have been making “more judicious” prescribing decisions. She also called for increased prescribing of naloxone and pointed to the AMA’s own task force recommendations.

Enough opioids were prescribed in 2015 to medicate every American for three weeks straight. To combat overprescribing, she said physicians should do so only when benefits outweigh risks. Behavioral and physical therapy and NSAIDs should be first choices.

The average days’ supply has increased annually for the past decade, from 13.3 in 2006 to 17.7 in 2015. If opioids are prescribed, the CDC recommends the duration of the prescription should be short — three days or less — and dose amounts should be as low as possible to achieve adequate pain relief.

In that way, the trendline is encouraging. The average daily morphine-equivalent dose per prescription has declined each year since 2006. Schuchat said she expects to see further reductions as the 2016 recommendations are implemented.

“We won’t be able to solve it overnight, but changes … hold promise that prescribing practices can improve,” she said.