Poll: Drug/opioid abuse and economic concerns cited as biggest problems facing rural communities
According to a new poll, rural Americans cite drug/opioid abuse as the biggest problem facing their local community (25%), followed by economic concerns (21%).
Highest opioid prescribing rates in U.S. among congressional districts in Southeast, Appalachia, and rural West
For immediate release: July 19, 2018 Boston, MA – Congressional districts with the highest opioid prescribing rates are predominantly concentrated in the southeastern U.S., with other hotspots in Appalachia and the rural west, according to a new study…
Curbing opioid use disorder by treating it in the doctor’s office
If primary care physicians (PCPs) offered medication treatment for opioid use disorder more frequently, overdose deaths could be reduced, according to a Perspective article in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) co-authored by Michael Barnett of Harvard…
Drugmakers cut spending on opioid marketing efforts
New data show that pharmaceutical companies are scaling back payments made to doctors to market opioid products. A June 28, 2018 report from ProPublica noted that drugmakers in 2016 made $15.8 million worth of payments to doctors to…
The more opioids doctors prescribe, the more they get paid
Opioid manufacturers are paying U.S. doctors huge sums of money for speaking, consulting, and other services—and the more opioids a doctor prescribes, the more money he or she gets paid by those same manufacturers, according to a new…
Doctors often underestimate the addictiveness of opioids
Physicians often underestimate the addictiveness of opioids when writing prescriptions for patients, Atul Gawande, professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and director of Ariadne Labs, said at…
How to address opioid epidemic? The public is unsure.
The U.S. public is divided about the best way to address the opioid-abuse epidemic, according to recent polls. Researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health—Robert Blendon, Richard L. Menschel Professor of Public Health and Professor of…
Recent Massachusetts effort to curb opioid prescriptions may not be effective
A recent effort in Massachusetts to curb opioid prescriptions by health providers may have been ineffective, according to an opinion piece in the December 14 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine co-authored by Harvard T.H. Chan…
President Trump’s opioid declaration unlikely to address root causes of epidemic
On October 26, President Trump declared America’s opioid crisis a public health emergency. Michael Barnett discusses the enormity of the crisis and the potential impact of the President’s actions.
Opioid-HIV connection a troubling trend
December 22, 2016 — Opioid abuse has become a major public health problem in the U.S. According to the Centers for Diseases Control (CDC), overdose deaths involving prescription opioids increased to about 19,000 deaths in 2014, more than…
