— The Travelers Companies Inc. has spent the past two years attempting to curb opioid abuse by gauging the likelihood that an injured worker would become hooked — and it helped reduce opioid use in claims by 30% among 500,000 claimants in the United States, the company reported Wednesday. The Hartford, Connecticut-based company’s Early Severity Predictor model identifies the likelihood that someone will develop chronic pain, a leading cause of opioid dependency, according to a statement. Travelers shares the data gathered from questionnaires with the injured employee’s doctor, allowing them to identify effective treatment alternatives, such as physical therapy.