Opioid Addiction News and Research

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Truly random drug testing: ADHD patients face uneven urine screens and, sometimes, stigma

Some adults who take prescription medication for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder are required to have their urine tested for drugs several times a year. Others never are tested.

28 Mar 2023

End of covid emergency will usher in changes across the US health system

The Biden administration's decision to end the covid-19 public health emergency in May will institute sweeping changes across the health care system that go far beyond many people having to pay more for covid tests.

22 Mar 2023

Feds move to rein in prior authorization, a system that harms and frustrates patients

When Paula Chestnut needed hip replacement surgery last year, a pre-operative X-ray found irregularities in her chest.

13 Mar 2023

Montana considers allowing physician assistants to practice independently

Megan Zawacki started working at St. Peter's Health in Helena, Montana, in 2020 as a physician assistant trained in treating addiction.

10 Feb 2023

Some addiction treatment centers turn big profits by scaling back care

Near the end of his scheduled three-month stay at a rehab center outside Austin, Texas, Daniel McKegney was forced to tell his father in North Carolina that he needed more time and more money, he recently recalled.

31 Jan 2023

Study shows benefits of decreasing opioid refills for hip and knee arthroplasty patients

Opioids are commonly prescribed to patients that are discharged after a total knee and hip arthroplasty. Patients are typically given larger prescriptions of opioids that can result in an excess of the medication in their home after recovery is over.

14 Dec 2022

Addiction treatment proponents urge rural clinicians to pitch in by prescribing medication

Andrea Storjohann is glad to see that she's becoming less of a rarity in rural America.

1 Dec 2022

Schools, sheriffs, and syringes: State plans vary for spending $26B in opioid settlement funds

With more than 200 Americans still dying of drug overdoses each day, states are beginning the high-stakes task of deciding how to spend billions of dollars in settlement funds from opioid manufacturers and distributors.

22 Nov 2022

New fentanyl vaccine could prevent deadly opioid from entering the brain

A research team led by the University of Houston has developed a vaccine targeting the dangerous synthetic opioid fentanyl that could block its ability to enter the brain, thus eliminating the drug's "high."

14 Nov 2022

UH PREMIER Center receives funding to fight the rising tide of opioid addiction and death

Fighting the rising tide of opioid addiction and death, the Prescription Drug Misuse Education and Research (PREMIER) Center at the University of Houston College of Pharmacy has been funded for the next two years by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission for an additional $3.34 million.

31 Oct 2022

Hospitals have been slow to bring on addiction specialists

In December, Marie, who lives in coastal Swampscott, Massachusetts, began having trouble breathing. Three days after Christmas, she woke up gasping for air and dialed 911.

11 Oct 2022

Omicron led to higher rates of death in rural America than urban areas

The omicron wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in late 2021 and early 2022 spread like a grass fire in America's densely populated cities but led to higher rates of death in rural counties where vaccinations are lagging.

14 Jun 2022

The Blackfeet nation’s plight underscores the fentanyl crisis on reservations

As the pandemic was setting in during summer 2020, Justin Lee Littledog called his mom to tell her he was moving from Texas back home to the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Montana with his girlfriend, stepson, and son.

25 May 2022

Rigaku Announces Narcotics Interdiction Partnership Program to Help Reduce Deaths by Overdose

Rigaku Analytical Devices, a U.S.-based pioneer of handheld 1064 nm-Raman based spectrometers, is pleased to announce its new Human Infrastructure Health & Awareness (HIHA) Technology Narcotics Identification Partnership Program.

From Rigaku Analytical Devices 10 May 2022

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy may help people in opioid addiction treatment

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy may help people being treated for opioid addiction reduce their methadone dose and better manage pain and withdrawal symptoms, according to a pair of studies led by Washington State University scientists.

11 Apr 2022

Never-ending costs: When resolved medical bills keep popping up

Every now and then, Suzanne Rybak and her husband, Jim, receive pieces of mail addressed to their deceased son, Jameson. Typically, it's junk mail that requires little thought, Suzanne said.

7 Apr 2022

$11M for North Carolina work-based rehab raises concerns

An addiction treatment facility, highly regarded by North Carolina lawmakers, sits in a residential neighborhood here and operates like a village in itself.

6 Apr 2022

Most individuals treated in emergency departments for opioid use disorder do not sustain treatment

Most people who fill prescriptions from emergency physicians to treat their opioid use disorder do not continue to receive the medication, suggesting new approaches are needed to help people continue drug treatment begun on an emergency basis, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

21 Mar 2022

Calls to overhaul methadone distribution intensify, but clinics resist

Days typically start early for patients undergoing opioid addiction treatment at Denver Recovery Group's six methadone clinics in Colorado.

3 Mar 2022

Some heart surgery patients may be able to control postoperative pain without opioids

Many patients who undergo heart surgery may be able to safely and effectively control postoperative pain without opioids after hospital discharge, according to research published online today in The Annals of Thoracic Surgery.

6 Jan 2022