In a discussion of opioid use disorder (OUD), often taken for granted is why many patients begin using opioids in the first place: to stop pain. While we can discuss the merits of various treatment methods once patients have already…
A panel of experts recently appeared before a Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC) in early 2019 to discuss barriers to medication-assisted treatment (MAT). Despite some headway, patients on Medicaid continue to face a number of barriers to…
At a time when most news about the opioid crisis seems to be bad, a recent study may be a cause for hope. The January 2019 study by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) indicates that opioid overdose deaths in…
AZZLY joins the Behavioral Health Association of Providers (BHAP) in asking you to support the behavioral health industry by signing this petition. This petition will be delivered to President Trump, the Senate, and the House of Representatives and would urge…
If you’re reading this post, you likely already know the seriousness of the opioid epidemic currently in the United States. The opioid epidemic is the largest the U.S. has faced in decades, arguably since the emergence of AIDS. Opioid use…
In 2018, five drug distribution executives were summoned to testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee oversight panel. The panel covered more than a dozen case studies, but one of the most striking was the case of Kermit, West…
Former Mississippi attorney general Mike Moore famously orchestrated a $250 billion settlement from major tobacco companies in the 1990s. Now he's back to take on the opioid industry. CBS covered Moore and his efforts in a Sunday, December 16, episode…
Meth is back. And it's surging faster than you might realize. While U.S. discussion and policy has focused on combating opioid addiction (the 70-bill Opioid Crisis Response Act was passed just this October), the methamphetamine crisis may have been returning…
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar announced this November in a speech to the National Association of Medicaid Directors that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services would allow states to waive the IMD exclusion, "giving states more flexibility…
Update: On Wednesday, October 24, 2018, President Trump officially signed the Opioid Crisis Response Act into law. Monday evening, September 17, the United States Senate passed the Opioid Crisis Response Act of 2018, a legislative package of more than 70 bills…
