Public Health

Massachusetts currently leads the nation in decreasing opioids prescription, according to a Blue Cross Blue Shield report cited by The Boston Herald.

Jon O'Brian, executive director of Keystone Contractors Association, which represents commercial construction workers across Pennsylvania, created an opioid awareness campaign after learning many young apprentices were overdosing on heroin, according The Morning Call.

The House Ways and Means Committee last week approved 11 bills related to expanding health savings accounts, largely along party lines.

New York recently allowed medical marijuana to be used as an alternative to prescribed opioids to combat the opioid epidemic, according to Iohud.

Chicago licensed approximately 1,500 pharmaceutical representatives due to a citywide ordinance that aims to to slow down over-prescription practices, according to Chicago Sun Times.

Synthetic opioids such as fentanyl contribute to half of all opioid overdoses in the U.S., according to a July 11 Health Alert Network warning from the CDC.

Opioid abuse diagnoses declined 5 percent in 2017, according to a report Blue Cross Blue Shield Association released July 12.

Cardinal Health, McKesson Corp. and AmerisourceBergen distributed 1.6B opioids in Missouri between 2012 and 2017, which equates to about 260 pills per resident, according to an investigative report Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., released July 11.

More than 750 CVS storefronts nationwide will carry deposit containers for unused opioid prescriptions, according to The Baltimore Sun.

A recent claims review by Aetna revealed that each month, between 300 and 400 of its members are treated for opioid overdoses in emergency rooms.