Expertise

Words Matter

Words Matter. Especially When it Comes to Addiction.

February 21, 2020 / Expertise, Latest Posts

Words are powerful. Help reduce negative stereotypes about addiction by changing your language. Although there’s been a concerted effort to bring awareness to the importance of person-first language, stigmatizing language related to substance use disorders is still widely used in our communities, perpetuating negative perceptions of those suffering from addiction. In a recent post on …

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Navigating the Opioid Reduction Landscape

Navigating the Opioid Reduction Landscape

February 21, 2020 / Expertise, Latest Posts

The increasing number of opioid overdose deaths over the last decade has resulted in a public health response centered around thoughtful opioid prescribing practices and careful consideration of risk versus benefit when initiating opioids for pain treatment. In 2016, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released guidelines around prescribing opioids for chronic pain, …

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Proposed Changes to 42 CFR Part 2: What You Need to Know

February 21, 2020 / Expertise, Latest Posts

Last month, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) proposed reforms that would revise the regulations governing patient records of substance use disorder and treatment that are subject to extra privacy laws. The current federal law, known as 42 CFR Part 2 (Confidentiality of Substance Use Disorder Patient Records regulation), predates the Health Insurance …

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Five Barriers to MAT Access

February 21, 2020 / Expertise, Latest Posts

A recent McKinsey and Co. study suggests the nationwide prevalence of opioid use disorder (OUD) could be upwards of four to six million people, significantly higher than government estimates. And despite progress toward increasing addiction treatment access, only 25% of those with OUD receive any kind of treatment and only half of those are still …

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Five Challenges to Safe Opioid Prescribing

February 27, 2020 / Expertise

For health plans and providers, managing patients on opioids requires a delicate balance between the patient’s pain management needs and the risk of opioid misuse. We asked our clinical experts to highlight their biggest challenges to improving care for patients on opioids, and their answers reflect the changing pain management and addiction landscape. 1. Lack …

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axial Takeaway: PAINWeekEnd Nashville 2019

February 27, 2020 / Expertise

By Holly Little, PharmD, Clinical Pharmacy Specialist, and Bethany Bedford, PharmD, BCACP, CPE, Principal, Clinical Advisor New Markets and Programs Constructed for the busy clinician, the PAINWeekEnd Regional Conference Series is a precursor to the renowned PAINWeek conference and brings certified medical education to healthcare professionals in all disciplines with an interest in pain management. …

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Higher Opioid Dose = Higher Surgical Spend & Worse Patient Outcomes

February 27, 2020 / Expertise

Roughly 40% of patients in need of knee, hip or shoulder joint replacement are prescribed opioids prior to surgery. However, preoperative opioid use is associated with worse patient outcomes, higher health plan costs, higher opioid use during the surgical hospital stay, and a lower likelihood of discontinuing opioids after surgery. In our most recent study …

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axial Takeaway: Tennessee Pharmacists Association Pharmacy Day on the Hill

February 21, 2020 / Expertise

By Stacey E. Grant, PharmD, VP of Clinical Operations In February, I had the opportunity to spend time with state lawmakers and advocate on behalf of the healthcare community for patients with chronic pain and patients in need of opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment during the Tennessee Pharmacists Association (TPA) Pharmacy Day on the Hill …

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The Inner Workings of Machine Learning: An exploration into a predictive model’s decisions

February 21, 2020 / Expertise

By David Simon, Ph.D., Research Data Scientist Predicting a patient’s risk for adverse outcomes is an important part of delivering personalized care and improving the lives of patients. In order to achieve these goals, axialHealthcare has developed a number of machine learning models that quantify patient risk. An exciting example is our machine learning model …

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Chronic Pain: The Other Public Health Crisis

February 21, 2020 / Expertise

“We want to make sure that as we deal with the opioid crisis, we keep in mind those Americans who are hurting.” This statement was made by Senate Health Committee Chairman Senator Lamar Alexander during this week’s Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) Committee Hearing amidst increasing public discussion of the impact of the opioid …

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