Opioid Crisis
Resources
4/8/2019
New Materials on the Opioid Crisis and People with Disabilities for Consumers, Providers, and Community Organizations
Three new issue briefs on medication treatment, peer support, and traumatic brain injury from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research grantee Brandeis University provide information for people with disabilities and their families, substance use treatment providers, and community organizations looking for resources on how the opioid crisis may be impacting people with disabilities.
1/29/2019
Public Health Surveillance of Prenatal Opioid Exposure in Mothers and Infants
The US opioid crisis is the public health emergency of our time and requires urgent public health action to monitor and protect the most vulnerable Americans. We have witnessed a startling death toll in 2017 with 70 237 drug overdose deaths in the United States, of which two-thirds involved opioids. The devastating consequences of this epidemic for mothers and infants have received less attention. Increases in opioid use and misuse in pregnancy have paralleled the increases in the general population; at delivery hospitalization, there were 4 times as many women with an opioid use disorder in 2014 compared with 1999. One of the most immediate and visible impacts of the opioid crisis on infants is the drug withdrawal in the newborn period, termed neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS). On the basis of 2014 data, 1 newborn was diagnosed with NAS every 15 minutes in the United States, totaling about 32 000 infants annually with associated hospital costs estimated at $563 million.
7/19/2018
Integrating Infectious Disease Prevention and Treatment into the Opioid Response
The opioid crisis in the United States is devastating the lives of millions of Americans. Perhaps overshadowed by the alarming rise in overdoses and deaths is the accompanying numbers of injection-related infectious diseases. Opioid overdose deaths increased fivefold from 1999 to 2016, and new hepatitis C infections more than tripled from 2010 to 2016.
7/18/2018
CDC Grand Rounds: Public Health Strategies to Prevent Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome
Neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) is a drug withdrawal syndrome that most commonly occurs in infants after in utero exposure to opioids, although other substances have also been associated with the syndrome (1). NAS usually appears within 48-72 hours of birth with a constellation of clinical signs, including central nervous system irritability (e.g., tremors), gastrointestinal dysfunction (e.g., feeding difficulties), and temperature instability (1) (Box 1). Opioid exposure during pregnancy might result from clinician-approved use of prescription opioids for pain relief; misuse or abuse of prescription opioids; illicit use (e.g., heroin); or medication-assisted treatment (MAT) of opioid use disorder (2) (Box 2).
6/13/2018
Help, Resources and Information on the National Opioids Crisis from HHS
Increased prescription of opioid medications has led to widespread misuse of both prescription and non-prescription opioids before it became clear that these medications could indeed be highly addictive. This webpage offers help, resources and information on the national opioid crisis.
6/13/2018
Treatment Resources for Opioid Use Disorder from SAMSHA
SAMHSA works with federal partners, states, and community stakeholders to develop and coordinate a comprehensive response to the opioid epidemic. SAMHSA addresses opioid use and misuse through approaches such as informing and guiding opioid prescribing practices, the expansion of medicationassisted treatment (MAT), and individual-provider decision making tools.
6/12/2018
CMS Guidance: Addressing Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome
Medicaid services can play a critical role in helping ensure access to treatment for these vulnerable infants who have Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS). Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) is a postnatal drug withdrawal syndrome that occurs primarily among opioid-exposed infants shortly after birth. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services CMS released guidance aimed at building on our commitment to partner with states to ensure that they have flexibilities and the tools necessary to combat the opioid crisis.
6/11/2018
CMS Leverages Medicaid Program to Combat the Opioid Crisis
States provided guidance in designing treatment options for Opioid Epidemic
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services CMS released guidance aimed at building on our 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.