Tag: opioid
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Office of Civil Rights Issues Guidance on HIPAA in Light of Opioid Crisis
With an increased focus on opioid use and addiction, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights has issued guidance related to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 due to misunderstandings over when a health care provider can share an individual’s protected health information in situations of overdose or…
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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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Trump: Opioid Epidemic “Worst Drug Crisis” in U.S. History
President Trump called the opioid epidemic the “worst drug crisis” to strike the U.S. in its history while declaring a public health emergency – not a national emergency as promised earlier in the summer. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 140 American die every day from an opioid overdose, which…
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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…
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STUDY: Patients Prescribed Opioids in the ER Less Likely to Use Them Long Term
WASHINGTON – Compared to other medical settings, emergency patients who are prescribed opioids for the first time in the emergency department are less likely to become long-term users and more likely to be prescribed these powerful painkillers in accordance with The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines. A paper analyzing 5.2 million prescriptions for…
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Opioid Prescribing Still High and Varies Widely Throughout U.S.
Opioid prescribing in the United States peaked in 2010 and then decreased each year through 2015, but remains at high levels and varies from county to county in the U.S., according to the latest Vital Signs report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Six times more opioids per resident were dispensed in 2015 in…
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Opioids in Alabama: Where Do We Go From Here?
The numbers are staggering. In 2015 alone opioid-related overdoses accounted for more than 33,000 deaths — nearly as many as traffic fatalities. Today more than 2.5 million adults in the U.S. are struggling with addiction to opioid drugs, including prescription opioids and heroin. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: About 91 Americans…
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Public Restrooms Become Ground Zero in the Opioid Epidemic
A man named Eddie threaded through the midafternoon crowd in Cambridge, Mass. He was headed for a sandwich shop, the first stop on a tour of public bathrooms. “I know all the bathrooms that I can and can’t get high in,” said Eddie, 39, pausing in front of the shop’s plate-glass windows, through which we…
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STUDY: Opioid Abuse Drops When Doctors Check Patients’ Drug History
ITHACA, N.Y. – There’s a simple way to reduce the opioid epidemic gripping the country, according to new Cornell University research: Make doctors check their patients’ previous prescriptions. The most significant response to the opioid epidemic comes from state governments. Nearly every state now has a database that tracks every prescription for opioids like OxyContin,…