Category: Opioid
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Alabama Opioid Overdose and Addiction Council Issues Formal Report
MONTGOMERY — Co-chairs of the Alabama Opioid Overdose and Addiction Council, Attorney General Steve Marshall, Commissioner Lynn Beshear of the Alabama Department of Mental Health, and Acting State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris, announced the issuance of the Council’s formal report of its findings. The Council was created in August 2017 by an executive order…
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New Research Shows Americans with Mental Illness use Opioids at Alarming Levels
More than half of all opioid medications distributed each year in the United States are prescribed to adults with mental illness — patients diagnosed with depression and anxiety — according to new research by Dartmouth-Hitchcock and the University of Michigan. The study, published in the July issue of the Journal of the American Board of…
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An Overlooked Epidemic: Older Americans Taking Too Many Unneeded Drugs
Consider it America’s other prescription drug epidemic. For decades, experts have warned that older Americans are taking too many unnecessary drugs, often prescribed by multiple doctors, for dubious or unknown reasons. Researchers estimate that 25 percent of people ages 65 to 69 take at least five prescription drugs to treat chronic conditions, a figure that jumps to nearly…
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CMS Announces New Medicaid Policy to Combat Opioid Crisis
Just a week after President Trump declared the opioid epidemic a public health emergency, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a new policy to allow states to design demonstration projects that increase access to treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD) and other substance use disorders (SUD). CMS’s new demonstration policy responds to…
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CDC Reports Rising Rates of Drug Overdose Deaths in Rural Areas
Rates of drug overdose deaths are rising in nonmetropolitan (rural) areas, surpassing rates in metropolitan (urban) areas, according to a new report in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) released this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Drug overdoses are the leading cause of injury death in the United States,…
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CVS Pharmacy, Others to Limit Prescriptions for Opioids
Beginning in February 2018, CVS Pharmacy will limit the dose of opioid pain medication and restrict new prescriptions for acute pain to a 7-day supply, which adheres to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidelines for prescribing opioids. This limit involves capping daily low-dosages and requires patients to receive versions of the medication that…