Opioid prescriptions in Minnesota have dropped significantly over the last few years, but the state still intends to implement penalties against certain physicians that overprescribe painkillers, the Minnesota Department of Human Services announced Jan 3. 

Amid a national opioid crisis, some hospitals have changed how they administer pain medication, a move some say can leave sickle cell patients suffering, according to NPR. 

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine issued a report outlining a framework to develop acute pain prescribing plans Dec. 19.

Close to a third of opioid poisoning cases in the U.S. involve children, a study published in Clinical Toxicology shows.

U.S. hospital spending on infants exposed to opioids rose by more than $250 million over four years, according to a study published Dec. 16 in JAMA Pediatrics.

Alphabet's life sciences arm Verily is seeking funding to expand its OneFifteen opioid addiction and recovery campus, launched earlier this year in partnership with Dayton, Ohio-based Premier Health and Kettering Health Network, the Dayton Daily News reports.

The MX908 mass spectrometer device, which was originally marketed by portable chemical analysis startup 908 Devices as a counterterrorism tool, is now being used by the Boston Public Health Commission to combat the opioid crisis, NPR reports.

An Oklahoma judge lowered the amount Johnson & Johnson has to pay the state for its role in the opioid crisis by $107 million, according to The Washington Post.

West Virginia has the highest rate of children affected by the opioid epidemic, with 54 of every 1,000 children in the state affected in 2017, according to a Nov. 13 report from United Hospital Fund and Boston Consulting Group.  

Patrick Yoder, PharmD,  co-founder and CEO of Logic Stream explains how automated software tools are playing an important role in drug diversion prevention and detection. 

The opioid epidemic adversely affected about 2.2 million U.S. children and adolescents in 2017, with related healthcare costs totaling $74 billion for the year, according to a Nov. 13 report from United Hospital Fund and Boston Consulting Group. 

Only one percent of opioid-naive emergency department patients receiving opioid prescriptions upon discharge demonstrated persistent opioid use six months later, according to a study published Nov. 1 in Annals of Emergency Medicine. 

Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Nov. 5 signed legislation to better track opioid overdoses in the state.

Delaware has the highest rate of Americans reporting opioid use disorder of all U.S. states, according to a new ranking from the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Mexican drug cartels are manufacturing and distributing large quantities of counterfeit prescription pills containing fentanyl throughout North America, according to a Nov. 4 warning from the Drug Enforcement Administration. 

Receiving gifts from pharmaceutical companies related to opioids increases the likelihood of a physician prescribing opioids to patients in the following year, according to a study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

The opioid epidemic cost the nation $696 billion in 2018, representing 3.4 percent of gross domestic product, according to a new estimate from the Council of Economic Advisors.

Altamonte Springs, Fla.-based AdventHealth aims to improve patients' access to substance abuse treatment through a new partnership with Seminole County, reports the Orlando Sentinel.

Asking patients to be involved in deciding how many opioids they need could help lower opioid prescribing rates, according to a study published in The Green Journal.

Hundreds of hospitals have filed lawsuits separate from the ongoing federal opioid trial accusing drugmakers of fueling the opioid crisis, according to NPR.