• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Addiction Treatment Forum

Addiction Treatment Forum

Addiction Treatment Forum reports on substance use news of interest to opioid treatment programs and patients in medication-assisted treatment.

  • Newsletter
  • Addiction Resources
  • Rx Methadone & Safety
  • Patient Brochures
  • Events
  • Related Websites

The Coronavirus And Efforts To Fight It Could Be Fueling Opioid Deaths

June 2, 2020 by ATForum

All of the conditions that frequently lead to drug abuse are present: isolation, anxiety, job loss. Now the question is, how will we address it?

As May comes to a close, COVID-19 had killed nearly 100,000 Americans so far this year. This must clearly remain the focus of public health policy. But there is another epidemic that used to make headlines: opioid overdoses. These two crises feed each other in deadly ways. We’re desperately seeking new tools to fight COVID-19 — from vaccines to antivirals to technology — but we already have underused tools to fight opioid deaths. 

Almost 50,000 people died from opioid overdoses in 2018. The Health and Human Services inspector general concluded, “The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic makes the need to look at this population even more pressing.”

COVID likely detrimental to mental health

The COVID-19 pandemic tragically fuels the root causes of the opioid crisis, including depression, unemployment, poverty, social alienation and many other “conditions of despair.” Some research suggests that every 1 percentage point increase in the level of unemployment translates into a 3.6% increase in the opioid death rate. If the pandemic increases unemployment rates by 10-20 percentage points, this could generate a staggering increase in opioid deaths that would compound the tragedy.

But beyond there is another set of institutional factors that may cause the COVID-19 pandemic to worsen the opioid crisis, and that’s the change in the way we access health care. Thirty-two percent of opioid overdoses are from legally prescribed drugs such as oxycodone — roughly the same share as from heroin. Some of the deaths from legally prescribed drugs are in patients who take them for legitimate pain management. These patients need help to prevent abuse and death. Some deaths are in individuals using medications prescribed for someone else. This diversion is deadly. 

Job loss, anxiety, isolation:Coronavirus is a prescription for more opioid use

Telemedicine is playing a vital role in providing access to health care during the pandemic — but it may paradoxically have the unintended consequence of accelerating these overdose deaths. Telemedicine is an important way to keep vulnerable patients out of health care facilities where they could pick up — or spread — disease. At both the state and federal levels, reimbursement and other rules have changed to encourage telemedicine, including allowing the prescription of opioids — even across some state lines. Approximately 76% of U.S. hospitals report that they are now connecting with patients using video, audio, chat, email and related technologies.

Telemedicine could be causing dangerous side effects

These new measures have the potential to increase opioid abuse, diversion and death. Without a face-to-face encounter, a physician has limited ability to evaluate the condition of a patient seeking pain management. And one of the few policy tools available to check for patients “opioid shopping” by going to multiple providers — state-level prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) — does not work across state lines. It seems like we are already experiencing COVID-19’s impact on opioid overdoses, with multiple reports showing a sharp local increases in opioid deaths.

Source: USA Today

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/05/27/coronavirus-drug-reforms-could-fueling-opioid-deaths-despair-column/5257218002/

Filed Under: 6-20, News Updates

Primary Sidebar

Upcoming Events

AATOD
April 10-14, 2021
Las Vegas, NV
https://www.eventscribe.com/2021/AATOD/

The Americam Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) 51th Annual Medical-Scientific Conference
Thursday, April 22, 2021 to Saturday, April 24, 2021
Virtual
https://www.drugabuse.gov/news-events/meetings-events/2021/04/americam-society-addiction-medicine-asam-51th-annual-medical-scientific-conference

APA 2021 Annual Meeting
Saturday, May 1, 2021 to Wednesday, May 5, 2021
Los Angeles, California
https://www.drugabuse.gov/news-events/meetings-events/2021/05/apa-2021-annual-meeting

View More Upcoming Events…

ATForum.com

  • Newsletter
  • News Updates
  • Addiction Resources
  • Rx Methadone & Safety
  • Patient Education Brochures
  • Events
  • Related Websites

Addiction Resources

  • Addiction and Recovery
  • Addiction Treatment Forum
  • Books and Booklets of Interest
  • Drug Screening and Testing
  • Evidence-Based Addiction Medicine
  • Government
  • Health Care Reform
  • Hepatitis, HIV/AIDS
  • Medication-Assisted Treatment
  • Mental Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Online Continuing Education Free Training Modules

Footer

Addiction Treatment Forum is produced by an independent medical communications agency. Commercial advertising is not accepted.
Published by Clinco Communications, Inc.
About Us
Contact Us
Privacy Policy
Terms of Use
Follow Us

This educational resource is supported by Hikma Pharmaceuticals USA Inc.

Sign up for News!

Select list(s) to subscribe to


By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: Clinco Communications, Inc., 1808 N. Arlington Heights Road, Arlington Heights, IL, 60004, http://www.atforum.com. You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact

© 2021 Addiction Treatment Forum · All Rights Reserved