Numerous resources and strategies exist for physicians seeking to help patients with opioid use disorder access specialized care, according to AMA Wire.

Solving the nation's opioid epidemic is no easy task. It's a problem that has sparked more than 800 lawsuits, sent thousands of children into foster care and, in 2017, killed more than 48,600 people.

The Senate passed a final version of the opioids bill in a 98 to 1 vote Oct. 4, according to The Seattle Times.

Wayne Jonas, MD, a physician, retired army medical officer and alternative medicine researcher, shared three ways clinicians can help chronic pain patients  avoid opioid dependency in an Sept. 24 post on his website.

Emma Passé, an account executive at Employee Benefit Management Services, described her unsuccessful efforts to turn down prescribed painkillers after abdominal surgery and said clinicians must realize "pain is a symptom, not a disease," in an op-ed for USA Today.

The opioid crisis can be understood in a lot of different ways. It’s been described as a failure of policy, the collateral damage in the pursuit of irresponsible profits, or just the latest trend in an eons-old cycle of addiction. But one area that has not received enough scrutiny is the very nature of how healthcare is delivered and paid for in the United States.

The Department of Justice will distribute almost $320 million to support individuals affected by opioid-related crimes.

Many hospital leaders and clinicians are reassessing current pain management strategies and opioid stewardship efforts amid the ongoing opioid epidemic.

The Department of Veterans Affairs plans to stock the opioid overdose antidote naloxone in its automated external defibrillator cabinets at facilities nationwide starting in December, according to NPR. 

The Congressional Budget Office released its assessment of the House's opioid bill Sept. 28.

Rebecca Savage, a trained OB-GYN nurse, created a prescription drug safety foundation after her two sons died from accidental overdoses in 2015, according to USA Today.

Congress revealed a 660-page revised opioids bill the night of Sept. 25 as part of a bipartisan effort to address the opioid epidemic, according to The Hill.

Lawmakers are working to combine two separate opioids bills passed by the House and Senate into a final opioids package to send to President Donald Trump's desk, according to STAT.

The opioid epidemic has grown into a pressing political issue, which many midterm election campaigns aim to bring to the forefront of their platform, according to The Wall Street Journal.

U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, MD, said Americans must change the way they discuss the opioid epidemic and addiction in a Sept. 20 report entitled, 'Facing Addiction in America: The Surgeon General's Spotlight on Opioids.'

The Senate passed its opioid bill Sept. 17 with bipartisan support. The Opioid Crisis Response Act aims to prevent illicit fentanyl trafficking, make individuals and institutions accountable for drug diversion and improve patient access to treatments, according to STAT.

It is important to address both those already addicted to opioids as well as preventing opioid addiction. For more than 24 years, I practiced as a general internist and treated both types of patients: those addicted to opioids and others who needed medication for chronic pain. For a better understanding of the opioid crisis, consider these four insights.

Stephen Colbert discussed the opioid epidemic and took aim at pharmaceutical companies during a "Late Show" segment Sept. 14, according to Rolling Stone.

Abraham Joy, PhD, an assistant professor at Akron (Ohio) University, and his research team received $200,000 from Ohio's Third Frontier Commission to fund research into a material that can detect opioid residue, according to News 5 Cleveland.

116 daily deaths, 42,249 yearly deaths, and $504 billion were the statistics that haunted Americans as a result of the opioid epidemic in 2016, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.