Indianapolis-based Indiana University Health achieved a systemwide decrease in opioid prescriptions since launching an initiative to monitor opioid use in January 2017, according to NPR affiliate 89.3 WFPL News.
GLP-1s
The FDA has started its two-day advisory committee meeting to determine if higher doses of opioids should be limited or removed from the market.
For the fifth consecutive year, the number and strength of opioids prescribed has declined, according to the American Medical Association's 2019 Opioid Task Force Progress Report.
Opioid prescription intelligence software that is designed to integrate data from prescription drug monitoring programs into EHR systems is helping healthcare providers identify opioid-use disorder and improve prescribing practices, according to a KLAS Research report.
Only about one-third of Americans with opioid use disorder reported receiving treatment in 2017, with the main obstacle being cost concerns, according to a report from USAFacts.
Advertisement
Fewer members of Pittsburgh-based Highmark Health are receiving opioid prescriptions, the organization announced during a May 14 press conference with Danville, Pa.-based Geisinger.
Americans who changed over to Medicare Advantage from traditional Medicare in 2016 spent an average $1,253 less in 2015 than beneficiaries who didn't make the jump, according to an analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Inconsistency in opioid dosing could be a risk factor for opioid overdose, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open.
The National Institutes of Health will roll out a $350 million study on addiction treatment in four states hit hard by the opioid epidemic, the group announced April 18.
The FDA will require pharmaceutical companies to study whether their opioid products are effective treatments for chronic pain, reports The Washington Post.