Recent spike in drug overdose deaths has Cuyahoga County on pace to match 2017’s record total
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A recent spike in fatal drug overdoses has Cuyahoga County officials concerned there could be as many drug-related deaths in 2018 as last year's record-setting total. Fourteen people died of drug overdoses during a recent five-day period from Aug. 2 to Aug. 6, the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's Office said in a statement. The uptick has Cuyahoga County on pace to match last year's total of 727 fatal drug overdoses. "This is a concerning trend. The county is working with our local and federal partners to analyze it and identify its source," Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner Dr. Thomas [...]
Heroin deaths surpass gun homicides for the first time, CDC data shows
Heroin deaths surpass gun homicides for the first time, CDC data shows Opioid deaths continued to surge in 2015, surpassing 30,000 for the first time in recent history, according to CDC data released Thursday. That marks an increase of nearly 5,000 deaths from 2014. Deaths involving powerful synthetic opiates, like fentanyl, rose by nearly 75 percent from 2014 to 2015. Heroin deaths spiked too, rising by more than 2,000 cases. For the first time since at least the late 1990s, there were more deaths due to heroin than to traditional opioid painkillers, like hydrocodone and oxycodone. "The epidemic of deaths [...]
New opioid report finds evidence of pill mills and doctor shopping in Ohio
WASHINGTON, D.C. - While Ohio has taken steps to crack down on over-prescription of highly addictive opioids, a new report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found almost 50 health care providers around the state who prescribed the narcotics to at-risk Medicaid beneficiaries during a year-long period that ended in May 2017. A report released Tuesday by the HHS Inspector General's office also found nearly 5,000 Medicaid recipients in Ohio getting large amounts of the drugs without cancer or hospice care diagnoses. It found more than 700 who appeared to be in serious danger of misusing or overdosing [...]
Dr. Marc Siegel: The opioid crisis has a solution — Here it is
I recently attended a symposium examining how medical schools can prepare future doctors to deal with the continuing opioid crisis. I joined over 90 educators from 30 medical schools at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University to discuss devising a curriculum based on a successful model that Brown has created. The curriculum on opioids is designed to accomplish two objectives: A Message from MEDC Find out how PlanetM’s connections can become your connections. If you’re a tech or mobility startup, we want to introduce you to dozens of auto companies with headquarters in Michigan. First, teaching medical students [...]
Opioid Toolkit
Ohio's employers are asking what they should do about the opioid problem in their own workplaces. The Ohio Chamber of Commerce convened a task force to explore the options. One recommendation coming out of the task force was for employers to be armed with a toolkit of resources to be better prepared to prevent and respond to the problem. With the help and expertise of a member company, Working Partners®, and financial support from member company, Anthem, we have developed the Opioid Toolkit containing several resources free of charge to any company that is doing business in Ohio. CLICK HERE
Ohioans lose 519,471 years of life from opioid overdose deaths in 7 years
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Ohioans lost more than a half-million years of life due to fatal opioid overdoses from 2010 through 2016, according to an analysis by the Ohio Alliance for Innovation in Population Health. On average, the preventable overdose deaths knocked almost 40 years off the lives of the 13,059 Ohioans who died, leaving holes in the lives of their families, communities and the economy. In 2016 alone, the losses, mainly from heroin and fentanyl, were so staggering that they lowered the life expectancy of an average Ohioan by more than a year. Fentanyl-related overdoses fueled the premature deaths, especially [...]