Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Lawmakers Aim To Get Opioid Package To Floor In May Saying 'Time Is Of The Essence'
Stat: Lawmakers Hope To Bring Opioid Legislation To Vote Before Memorial Day
A key House committee will hold the last of three major hearings to address the opioid crisis on April 11, and hopes to bring a legislative package to the floor before the House breaks for Memorial Day on May 24, according to GOP aides on Capitol Hill. The third hearing of the House Energy & Commerce health subcommittee will focus on insurance coverage, payment issues, and prescription regulations for Medicaid beneficiaries. An initial session focused on enforcement issues and a second discussed public health, treatment, and prevention strategies. (Facher, 3/29)
NPR: Fentanyl-Laced Cocaine Becoming A Deadly Problem Among Drug Users
A pipe was the only sign of drug use found near Chris Bennett's body in November. But it looked like the 32-year-old Taunton, Mass. native had stopped breathing and died of an opioid overdose. Bennett's mother Liisa couldn't understand what happened. Then she saw the toxicology report. "I'm convinced he was smoking cocaine that was laced," she says. "That's what he had in his system, [it] was cocaine and fentanyl." (Bebinger, 3/29)
NPR: Opioid Treatment Program Helps Parents Get And Stay Sober To Get Their Kids Back
Velva Poole has spent about 20 years as a social worker, mostly in Louisville, Ky. She's seen people ravaged by methamphetamines and cocaine; now it's mostly opioids. Most of her clients are parents who have lost custody of their children because of drug use. Poole remembers one mom in particular. "She had her kids removed the first time for cocaine. And then she had actually gotten them back," she says. But three months later, the mother relapsed and overdosed on heroin. (Gillespie, 3/28)
Kaiser Health News: Omissions On Death Certificates Lead To Undercounting Of Opioid Overdoses
In a refrigerator in the coroner’s office in Marion County, Ind., rows of vials await testing. They contain blood, urine and vitreous, the fluid collected from inside a human eye.In overdose cases, the fluids may contain clues for investigators. “We send that off to a toxicology lab to be tested for what we call drugs of abuse,” said Alfie Ballew, chief deputy coroner. The results often include drugs such as cocaine, heroin, fentanyl or prescription pharmaceuticals. (Harper, 3/29)
California Healthline: Calif. Bill Targets Profiteering In Addiction Treatment, Dialysis Industries
A California lawmaker is seeking to rein in addiction treatment centers and dialysis providers accused of profiteering off vulnerable patients by collecting millions of dollars in inflated medical claims. Supporters of the proposed legislation, scheduled for a key Senate hearing next month, say some providers, industry middlemen and charities with ties to providers are signing up patients for health insurance and paying the premiums only to line their own pockets. They say these arrangements drive up insurance costs industrywide. (Terhune, 3/28)
Columbus Dispatch: Franklin County Officials Concerned By Recent Surge In Opioid-Related Deaths
Word of a frightening spike in overdose deaths began circulating in the addiction-treatment community several days ago, and Franklin County Coroner Anahi M. Ortiz on Wednesday publicly revealed the toll: Eighteen people lost in just seven days. ...Initial toxicology screenings indicate that the majority of the deaths are related to fentanyl, an increasingly prevalent and powerful synthetic opioid that’s often added to other drugs. (Renault and Price, 3/28)
Stat: Washington State Has The First Full Drug Take-Back Program. Who's Next?
After years of skirmishes, the most comprehensive statewide drug take-back program in the nation became law late last week in Washington, potentially creating a new template for states to press the pharmaceutical industry to underwrite these efforts. The Washington law requires drug makers to fully finance and operate the program, which is designed to lower the threat of drug abuse stemming from medicines that linger in households and also reduce contamination in drinking water. (Silverman, 3/28)
