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California CA Bridge program expands opioid treatment across most emergency departments

A comprehensive study shows that California's CA Bridge program has successfully implemented opioid use disorder treatment services across more than 80% of the state's emergency departments, reaching over 165,000 patients and providing nearly 45,000 instances of buprenorphine treatment from July 2022 through December 2023 alone.

2 Sep 2025

Many pharmacies still do not stock buprenorphine despite eased prescribing rules

Faced with a worsening drug crisis, policymakers in recent years have made it much easier for doctors to prescribe the highly effective opioid addiction treatment buprenorphine.

2 Sep 2025

Medicaid expansion boosts access to opioid use disorder treatment

Medicaid plays a key role for giving people with opioid-use disorder access to treatment, according to a Rutgers Health study.

2 Sep 2025

New study supports personalized restart of methadone for opioid use disorder

A new study from University of Colorado Anschutz and Denver Health researchers, published today in JAMA Network Open, introduces a more individualized approach to restarting methadone treatment for people with opioid use disorder.

28 Aug 2025

Hormone therapy type may influence postmenopausal cognitive health

The type of estradiol-based hormone therapy taken during and after menopause, such as patches or pills, may be associated with differences in memory performance, according to a study published on August 27, 2025, in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

28 Aug 2025

Using cannabis to self medicate linked to higher risk of paranoia

New research from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King's College London, in partnership with the University of Bath, has found that the reasons why a person chooses to use cannabis can increase their risk of developing paranoia.

27 Aug 2025

Columbia study urges federal recognition of public health nurses

After 140 years of vital, often invisible service, public health nurses (PHNs) deserve formal recognition as a distinct occupation, says a new study from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.

27 Aug 2025

Targeting gut signaling protein may protect against alcohol-related liver damage

Alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD) is a major cause of liver transplantation and death worldwide, and its impact is only growing. In 2022, the annual cost of ALD in the United States was $31 billion.

27 Aug 2025

Polysubstance-involved opioid overdoses found to be prevalent among youth

Most research suggests that opioid overdoses involving multiple substances in the United States typically occur among people ages 25-54.

26 Aug 2025

New guideline offers effective options to help Canadians quit smoking

Tobacco smoking is the number one cause of preventable disease and death in Canada; it is highly addictive and hard to stop.

25 Aug 2025

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Happy 60th, Medicare and Medicaid!

On July 30, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed landmark legislation creating Medicare and Medicaid. Sixty years later, the programs represent a fifth of the federal budget and provide coverage to nearly 1 in 4 Americans.

21 Aug 2025

Evidence review questions ketamine’s role in chronic pain treatment

A Cochrane review assessed ketamine and other NMDA receptor antagonists for chronic non-cancer pain. The evidence was low to very low certainty, showing no clear pain relief and potential adverse effects with intravenous ketamine.

21 Aug 2025

Optum Rx invokes open meetings law to fight Kentucky counties on opioid suits

UnitedHealth Group's multibillion-dollar pharmacy benefit manager, Optum Rx, is suing five Kentucky counties in an attempt to force them out of national opioid litigation against the company.

20 Aug 2025

ADHD medication lowers risk of substance misuse and accidents

ADHD medications are linked to reduced risks of dangerous outcomes, including substance misuse and criminality, supporting their use in treatment strategies.

18 Aug 2025

Pregabalin raises heart failure risk in older adults compared to gabapentin, study finds

A large Medicare cohort study found that older adults prescribed pregabalin had a significantly higher risk of developing heart failure compared to those prescribed gabapentin. The elevated risk was most pronounced in individuals with pre-existing cardiovascular disease, especially women and White patients.

13 Aug 2025

Quitting smoking linked to better recovery from drug and alcohol addiction

Adults who smoke cigarettes and are addicted to alcohol or other drugs were more likely to achieve sustained remission of their substance use disorder symptoms if they also quit smoking, according to scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). `

13 Aug 2025

New engineered molecule shows promise as rapid antidote for carbon monoxide poisoning

University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) researchers, along with their colleagues, engineered a new molecule that appears promising as an effective antidote for carbon monoxide poisoning with fewer side effects than other molecules currently being tested, according to a new study published in the journal PNAS.

12 Aug 2025

Uncovering the science behind musical anhedonia

Ten years ago, researchers discovered a small group of people who derive no pleasure from music despite having normal hearing and the ability to enjoy other experiences or stimuli.

7 Aug 2025

Cherokee Nation Behavioral Health and Emory team up to prevent youth substance use

While overdose deaths in the U.S. sharply declined in 2024, they remain high. Almost 90,000 Americans died from drug overdoses between October 2023 and September 2024.

6 Aug 2025

As California’s behavioral health workforce buckles, help is years away

This spring, the Good News Rescue Mission, which runs the only emergency homeless shelter in Shasta County, received a game-changing $17.8 million state grant to build a 75-bed residential treatment facility in a region where thousands struggle with drug and alcohol addiction.

6 Aug 2025