Public Health

Rising rates of opioid prescriptions in Florida coincided with an increase in the number of children removed from their homes in the state due to parental neglect, according to a study published in Health Affairs. 

Mercy Health-Cincinnati launched a partnership to help patients enter addiction treatment programs more easily, according to a WCPO report.

The Compass Center in Sioux Falls, S.D., a nonprofit agency that works with sexual assault victims, saw a significant rise in calls to assist sexual assault victims in local emergency rooms since 2015, according to a KSFY report.

State College-based Pennsylvania State University will host an opioid epidemic summit Friday, according to a report from the Daily Collegian.

The Chicago Fire Department added five surge ambulances to streets Friday and Saturday after the city saw a spike in flu-related emergency medical calls, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Marietta, Ga.-based WellStar Health System and Pacira Pharmaceuticals entered into a joint agreement to reduce opioid use and dependence following surgery.

To assess the public's perception of the nation's ongoing opioid overdose and addiction crisis, two public health researchers with the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston analyzed findings from seven national polls conducted in 2013, 2016 and…

An expansion project for the psychiatric crisis stabilization unit at Marin County General Hospital in Greenbrae, Calif., was orginally intended to be finished by the end of 2017, but construction will begin this month, according to the Marin Independent Journal.

The American Farm Bureau Federation and National Farmers Union — the nation's two largest general farm organizations — launched a campaign to raise awareness about the effect of the opioid epidemic on rural communities.

An attorney representing Surry County filed a 165-page federal lawsuit Dec. 29, naming 24 drug manufacturers, distributors and their subsidiaries as defendants, according to a Winston-Salem Journal report.