Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Profit Mining The Opioid Epidemic: 'People Who Are Addicts Are Sold To The Highest Bidder'
The Philadelphia Inquirer/Philly.com: ‘Pimping Out’ Drug Addicts For Cash
Stripped of basic rights, addicts are told by the people who run their boarding houses — called recovery houses — what facility to attend, when to go, and for how long. If addicts don’t take the van rides, house operators threaten them with eviction...In exchange for herding people into centers, recovery house operators pocket illegal, under-the-table payments – ranging from $100 to $400 per person monthly – that keep them in business. The centers, in turn, bill the government for a piece of the $680 million in Medicaid and state money disbursed in 2016 by a nonprofit contracted by the city to combat addiction and mental health issues. (Lubrano, 6/1)
The Associated Press: Baltimore Officials To Make Opioid Antidote Easily Available
Baltimore Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen will sign a new standing order making an antidote that reverses the effects of opioids available over the counter. Wen will sign the order on Thursday at 9 a.m. at Fibus Drug Store. The order will make the medication, called naloxone, readily available to residents. Previously, a training session was required to receive a naloxone prescription. (6/1)
The Associated Press: A Tool To Protect Police Dogs In Drug Raids From Overdosing
Police dogs simply follow their noses to sniff out narcotics. But inhaling powerful opioids can be deadly, so officers have a new tool to protect their four-legged partners: naloxone, a drug that has already been used for years to reverse overdoses in humans. Law enforcement officers have started carrying naloxone with them on drug raids, when K-9s are often sent into houses or cars to find narcotics. Three police dogs in Florida were rushed to an animal hospital last year when they ingested fentanyl, a powerful painkiller that is often mixed with street heroin but 50 times more potent. (Lavoie, 6/1)
The Baltimore Sun: Acupuncture Is An Alternative To Drugs For Pain Treatment
Doctors in the United States have been reducing the amount of opioids they prescribe for pain as the nation grapples with a deadly addiction epidemic. The frequency of opioid prescriptions written in Maryland dropped 13.3 percent from 4.2 million in 2013 to 3.6 million in 2016, according to MedChi, the state medical society. In July, a new state policy will require doctors to get prior authorization in certain cases to prescribe opioids to Medicaid patients. The hope is to get doctors to look at others ways of treating pain. One alternative form of pain treatment touted by some health care practitioners is acupuncture. (McDaniels, 5/31)
Seattle Times: Where The Homeless Died: Opiates, Illness, Homicides Fuel Rise In Deaths On King County Streets
All four were homeless or living without permanent shelter when they died, according to the Medical Examiner’s Office. Recent figures show the numbers of such deaths are trending, and not in the right direction. With 48 homeless deaths recorded at the end of April, the county is more than halfway toward the total number in all 2016. The numbers have been moving upward for several years. In 2010 there were 47 homeless deaths, while in each of the past two years the number was 91. (Coleman, 5/31)
Columbus Dispatch: Overdoses Flood Area Emergency Rooms
The rate of hospital inpatient stays in Ohio because of opioid use increased 52 percent from 2009 to 2014, according to the latest available data from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. It’s just another piece of grim proof that the abuse of heroin and narcotic painkillers has hit alarming levels, officials say. (Pyle, 6/1)
Cleavland Plain Dealer: Federal Prosecutors In Cleveland Want To Create 'Strike Force' To Combat Opioid Abuse, Violent Crime
Federal investigators and prosecutors in northern Ohio are seeking to create a new "strike force," a designation that would put more money toward combating the heroin scourge and violent crime in northern Ohio through aggressive law enforcement. (Heisig, 5/31)
Cincinnati Enquirer: More Victims Of ODs: First Responders Suffer Compassion Fatigue
One paramedic remembers when the hair on the back of his neck would stand on end as he headed out on an overdose call. Not anymore. This is the classic definition of compassion fatigue, when typically caring people find themselves unable to empathize anymore because the frequency of the appeals for their help is so overwhelming. (5/31)
Richmond Times Dispatch: Filings By Physician Accused In 'Pill Mill' Case Prompt Government Request For A Hearing
A judge has rescinded permission for a physician — representing himself in a drug case that could net him hundreds of years in prison — to commute to a law library. Scranage, 62, is awaiting an Aug. 7 trial on 19 counts alleging he ran a lucrative Richmond-area oxycodone “pill mill.” He is representing himself and last week Novak approved his request to travel to the library to assist in his own defense. (Green, 6/1)
