On Friday, June 2, 2016, Prince died of a self-administered opioid overdose.[1] The culprit was none other than fentanyl, a drug rising in popularity with the country’s addict population. While discovery of the cause of Prince’s death answered one question, it raised another: where did he get fentanyl? Prince had a prior prescription for Percocet …
In one of the largest data studies ever conducted, Fair Health looked at claims data for 150 million privately insured patients to measure the difference in medical service utilization for the opioid addicted population vs the non-addicted group. The results were staggering- click here to read CNN’s report on the study. Looking only at data …
Study: Opioid Dependence Leads to 3000% Rise in Medical Services Read More »
In February, the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) published its meta-analysis review of all existing literature related to the effectiveness of behavioral interventions when combined with medication-assisted therapy (MAT) in the Journal of Addiction Medicine. This research was completed as part of the long process of rolling out updated ASAM guidelines related to use …
Published in December 2015, this study from Stanford School of Medicine’s Anna Lembke, MD and Jonathan Chen, MD challenges the theory that ‘pill mills’ are solely responsible for the opioid epidemic our country finds itself in right now. The study examined 2013 Medicare prescription drug claims based on a data set from the Centers for Medicare …
Opioid Overprescribing Not Limited to a Few Bad Apples Read More »
On Wednesday in West Virginia, President Obama gave one of his only speeches thus far in which he addressed the growing opioid epidemic in the U.S. The message he delivered was that providers across the country must begin expanding patient access to medication-assisted therapies (MAT) like buprenorphine and naloxone for treating opioid addicted patients. He …
Obama Tells Outdated Opioid Treatment Industry It’s Time To Change Read More »
By now, most people in health care are well aware of the 16,000 or more deaths that result from opioid drugs in the U.S. each year. Many are also cognizant of the fact that opioids are generally ineffective for chronic pain, and many times actually make the pain worse through opioid induced hyperalgesia. This study …
Doctors Play A Role In The Opioid Addiction Epidemic Read More »
Just 25% of physicians feel very confident managing a patient’s opioid therapy A recent study conducted by Boston University School of Medicine surveyed 779 physicians who are registered with the DEA to prescribe Schedule II and III narcotics. The results were staggering, especially when taken in the context of our current opioid addiction epidemic in …
25% of Physicians Feel ‘Very Confident’ Managing a Patient’s Opioid Therapy Read More »
Published in Time Magazine, this story was written by Massimo Calabresi and highlights the effects of the opioid epidemic and the downstream impact it has had on the small communities of our country. The story focuses on Scott County Indiana, a small rural community 20 miles from the Kentucky border, where they are experiencing the …
