Latest News On Opioids

Latest KFF Health News Stories

Hep C And Drug Abuse Often Go Hand In Hand, But Screening For Infection Lags

KFF Health News Original

As the number of people who inject drugs has soared, the rate of hepatitis C infection has climbed steeply, too, because the disease can be tied to sharing needles. Yet many drug patients are not checked for the virus that can damage the liver.

Nurse Denied Life Insurance Because She Carries Naloxone

KFF Health News Original

The U.S. surgeon general has called on “bystanders” to be equipped with the opioid reversal drug to save lives. But when a nurse answered that call, her application for life insurance was denied. Why?

Eclipsada por los opioides, regresa la metanfetamina y aumentan las urgencias

KFF Health News Original

Las internaciones relacionadas con el consumo de anfetaminas aumentaron un 245% entre 2008 y 2015. Expertos dicen que el dramático aumento ha pasado desapercibido.

Overshadowed By Opioids, Meth Is Back And Hospitalizations Surge

KFF Health News Original

Hospital visits related to amphetamine use have spiked, with the biggest jumps in the West, new research shows. Experts say more attention needs be paid to the resurgence of methamphetamine.

Black Market For Suboxone Gives Some A Glimpse Of Recovery

KFF Health News Original

Addiction experts argue that buprenorphine, which drug users buy on the street, actually saves lives because it is used in place of more dangerous substances, like heroin and fentanyl.

Congress Targets Misuse Of Hospice Drugs

KFF Health News Original

In the bipartisan opioid bill headed to the president’s desk, hospice workers would be allowed to destroy patients’ unneeded opioids, reducing the risk that families misuse them.

Podcast: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’ Some Things Old, Some Things New

KFF Health News Original

In this episode of KHN’s “What the Health?” Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News, Rebecca Adams of CQ Roll Call, Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times and Kimberly Leonard of the Washington Examiner discuss final action on bills in Congress to address the opioid epidemic and fund federal health agencies. They also look at new efforts by the Food and Drug Administration to crack down on teen nicotine use.

VA Adding Opioid Antidote To Defibrillator Cabinets For Quicker Overdose Response

KFF Health News Original

A project that started in a Boston Veterans Affairs facility will soon go nationwide. It puts naloxone, also known as Narcan, into emergency supplies cabinets throughout the VA system.

Drugmakers Play The Patent Game To Lock In Prices, Block Competitors

KFF Health News Original

Pharmaceutical companies like Purdue Pharma, maker of OxyContin, often win patents for incremental changes with debatable value. Now there’s a twist involving an opioid treatment.