The United States is amidst a crisis in population health related to opioid dependence and abuse.

More than half of Department of Veterans Affairs enrollees also have Medicare drug coverage, a dual system that can lead to uncoordinated and potentially unsafe opioid use, according to a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Salem, Mass.-based North Shore Medical Center and nonprofit human service agency Bridgewell recently started offering recovery coaches to patients being treated for drug overdoses, The Boston Globe reports.

CMS updated its Opioid Prescribing Mapping Tool to give users a more in-depth look at opioid prescribing rates across the U.S., the agency announced Feb. 22.

The FDA will require pharmaceutical companies to study whether their opioid products are effective treatments for chronic pain, reports The Washington Post.

Asthma is common among the opioid-dependent patient population, according to research presented at the 2019 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, Feb. 22 to 25, in San Francisco.

U.S. deaths linked to opioids increased fourfold in the last 20 years, and the epidemic has had a significant effect on Eastern states, a study published in JAMA Network Open found.

Richard Sackler, MD, a former Purdue Pharma executive and member of the billionaire family that founded and controls the company, embraced a plan to conceal OxyContin's strength in an effort to boost prescriptions and sales, newly unveiled court documents cited by ProPublica and STAT reveal.

To help combat the nation's opioid crisis, Google said it will begin to displaying local prescription drug disposal locations on Google Maps.

The New York Academy of Sciences and Columbia University, both in New York City,  are joining the list of universities and nonprofits reviewing their philanthropic ties to Purdue Pharma and its owners, The Wall Street Journal reports.

In response to the opioid crisis, Akron, Ohio-based Summa Health is drastically reducing the use of opioids in surgeries, according to News 5 Cleveland.

Many emergency departments send overdose patients home without medication-assisted therapies or a referral to other types of treatment, which misses an opportunity to help address the nation's opioid crisis, reports Kaiser Health News.

California will allocate $8 million in funding to 31 hospitals to provide medication-assisted treatment to patients battling opioid use disorder in rural areas, reports Capital Public Radio.

Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter claims Purdue Pharma executed a covert disinformation campaign attacking attorneys general who filed lawsuits against opioid manufacturers, according to a KRMG news report.

Restrictions insurers implement to help control costs — like prior authorization — may be limiting physicians' use of buprenorphine to treat patients with opioid use disorder, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Insys founder John Kapoor used a rap video parody featuring a life-size fentanyl spray bottle to motivate his sales team to get physicians to prescribe higher doses of the company's opioid pain reliever Subsys, according to The Boston Globe.  

Connecticut-based nurse practitioner Heather Alfonso on Feb. 11 testified that Insys Therapeutics gave her thousands of dollars in kickbacks for prescribing the company's highly addictive opioid painkiller Subsys, reports Bloomberg.

The DOD has enrolled nine states in its nationwide prescription drug monitoring program, an initiative to address addiction and reduce the illegal transfer of opioids within the military population, according to military.com.

Two pharmacies in Nashville, Tenn., were hit with a restraining order by the U.S. Justice Department that prohibits them from dispensing controlled substance medications, according to the Herald-Citizen.

Domenic Esposito, a Boston-based artist and activist who installed a massive spoon sculpture in June outside of OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma's headquarters, revived his artful protest Feb. 8 in Rhode Island by placing an 800-pound spoon outside of the main offices of Rhodes Pharmaceuticals, the Stamford Advocate reports.