AUTHORS

Jay Chaudhary, JD Managing Attorney & Director of Medical-Legal Partnerships, Indiana Legal Services Adjunct Faculty Indiana University Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health

Kate Marple, MSc Senior Research Scientist & Director of Communications, National Center for Medical-Legal Partnership

Jillian Bajema Research Assistant, National Center for Medical-Legal Partnership
 

INTRODUCTION

The current opioid epidemic is a public health crisis, devastating urban, suburban, and rural communities across the United States. The problem — rooted both in the overprescribing of prescription opioids as painkillers, and the increased accessibility of cheap heroin and synthetic heroin substitutes — resulted in more than 42,000 opioid overdose-related deaths in 2016.1 At the end of that same year, 2.1 million Americans were living with an opioid-related substance use disorder (SUD)2, and the problem is getting worse daily.

Virginia is experiencing an opioid crisis of overwhelming proportions. At least two Virginians die from prescription opioid and heroin overdoses every day. The Virginia Department of Health reported a 38% increase in deaths from prescription opioid and heroin overdoses between 2012 and 2014.1 Opioid abuse is increasing in Virginia due to high levels of prescription opioid drug supply, lack of understanding of the issue among the public and providers, and limited availability of treatment. Virginia’s Medicaid program spent $26 million on opioid use and misuse in 2013, with $10 million of this spending occurring in Southwest Virginia. More broadly, at least 40,000 adults in Virginia’s Medicaid program have a substance abuse disorder, and over 50% of Medicaid members with serious mental illness also have a substance use disorder.

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The PDMP monitors dispensed drugs that contain controlled dangerous substances (CDS). The goal of the PDMP is to assist medical, pharmacy, and public health professionals in the identification and prevention of prescription drug abuse. It also promotes a balanced use of prescription data that preserves the professional practice of healthcare providers and legitimate access to optimal pharmaceutical care.

The program is overseen by the Maryland Department of Health (MDH), Behavioral Health Administration (BHA).

Following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) declaring a national opioid epidemic and Governor Scott claiming the opioid epidemic in Florida a statewide emergency, Florida Blue is introducing prior authorization and supply limits for use of short-acting opioids for your opioid naïve patients. They're making the changes to ensure appropriate use of opioid analgesics for members suffering from chronic pain, and to protect both patients and their families from the risk of opioid abuse, misuse and diversion, while providing continued access to opioid medications when appropriate.

Developing a Prototype Opioid Surveillance System at a 2-Day Virginia Hackathon

Catherine Ordun, Jessica Bonnie, Jung Byun*, Daewoo Chong, Richard Latham and Joshua Wei

Objective

A team of data scientists from Booz Allen competed in an opioid hackathon and developed a prototype opioid surveillance system using data science methods. This presentation intends to 1) describe the positives and negatives of their data science approach, 2) demo the prototype applications built, and 3) discuss next steps for local implementation of a similar capability.

Aetna’s Initiative on the Opioid Epidemic - The Aetna Foundation is launching a funding initiative to fight the the ongoing opioid epidemic in the U.S. and help communities and states that have taken a hard hit.

Check out the presentation.

The Comparative Effectiveness of Selected Complementary and Integrative Health (CIH) Interventions for Preventing or Reducing Opioid Use in Adults with Chronic Neck, Low Back, and Large Joint Pain 

Over the past two decades, there has been a dramatic increase in opioid related overdose deaths, dependence, and misuse. As a result, there is intense interest in non-opioid alternatives for treating chronic pain. Select Complementary and Integrative Health (CIH) interventions may be a reasonable non-opioid treatment option if they can improve pain at a magnitude comparable to opioids, but without serious side effects. Whether CIH interventions can reduce chronic opioid use is of great interest in the fight against the opioid epidemic.

Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services CMS released guidance aimed at building on their commitment to partner with states to ensure that they have flexibilities and the tools necessary to combat the opioid crisis.  This new guidance provides information to states on the tools available to them, describes the types of approaches they can use to combat this crisis, ensures states know what resources are available, and articulates promising practices for addressing the needs of beneficiaries facing opioid addiction. Notably, CMS released an Informational Bulletin that provides states with information they can use when designing approaches to covering critical treatment services for Medicaid eligible infants with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS). Additionally, CMS issued a letter to states on how they may best use federal funding to enhance Medicaid technology to combat drug addiction and the opioid crisis.

Although some progress has been made in efforts to combat the opioid epidemic, the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate the crisis is not slowing down. However, it is important for their beneficiaries across the country to know that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is exploring all of their options to address this national crisis.

The videos and digital tools on www.getEPCS.com make it easy for users to learn what to do to get their practice up and running with electronic prescribing of controlled substances (EPCS).