Public Health

CMS approved its first 10-year Section 1115 Medicaid waiver Dec. 28, authorizing Mississippi to continue its family planning waiver through 2027.

Orange County, Calif., officials are planning to open the area's first treatment center for mental health and drug abuse emergencies in a building near the county's largest homeless encampment, according to the Orange County Register.

Local economic factors significantly influence opioid prescribing practices for Medicare beneficiaries under the age of 65, according to a study published in the journal Medical Care.

Nashville, Tenn.-based Hospital Corporation of America and Brentwood, Tenn.-based LifePoint Health are working to change patients' pain expectations to help curb the nation's opioid overdose crisis, according to a report from Nashville Public Radio. 

North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale, Minn., put its emergency room on lockdown Saturday night after a self-inflicted shooting occurred, according to a Star Tribune report.

Health officials in the U.K. are considering nationwide deployment of 'drunk tanks' to lessen the strain heavy drinkers place on emergency rooms and ambulance services, according to ABC News.

Sharp Grossmont Hospital in San Diego County set up a surge tent outside its emergency room entrance to triage patients with flu symptoms, according to a KNSD report.

Erie, Pa.-based UPMC Hamot will open a new Pregnancy Recovery Center on Jan. 2, offering expectant mothers addicted to opioids medical treatment and counseling, according to a report from GoErie.com. 

The nation's ongoing opioid epidemic produced a bevy of news stories in 2017, including those about rising rates of fentanyl use, new limits on opioid prescriptions and health systems' responses and strategies to fight opioid addiction.

Cook County and five other counties encompassing Chicago suburbs recently filed lawsuits against drugmakers for the companies' alleged roles in facilitating Illinois' opioid epidemic.