Increasing the frequency of visits to weekly or every other week may help you better understand the patient’s behavior by observing it more closely, and also increasing communication with the patient.
For example, if a patient is running out early, engaging in weekly visits may shed light on whether the issue is one of misunderstanding of instructions, limited health numeracy, mild cognitive impairment, or loss of control over how opioids are taken.
For substance use, increased monitoring may help bring to light other addressable concerning behaviors that impact substance use (e.g., the patient is also taking opioids for symptoms other than pain due to an undiagnosed mood disorder), and improve your understanding of whether this substance use is accompanied by attributes (loss of control, disruption of relationships, etc) that suggest a substance use disorder.