Regardless of progress combating the overdose epidemic, outdated insurance policies are ‘costing lives’

Key takeaways:

• Opioid prescriptions decreased by 51.7% from 2012 to 2023.
• The AMA underlined the significance of eradicating limitations to accessing MOUD and implementing parity legal guidelines to deal with the epidemic.

Drug overdose deaths decreased barely in 2023 in contrast with the earlier yr however nonetheless stay at a near-historic excessive, in accordance with an AMA report.

The slim discount in drug-related mortality comes regardless of a greater than 50% lower within the variety of opioid prescriptions during the last 12 years. The AMA’s 2024 Opioid Overdose Epidemic report highlights the numerous progress achieved in lowering opioid prescriptions, along with growing naloxone availability.

Nevertheless, the report additionally captures challenges that stay obstructive of efforts to successfully handle the continued disaster, akin to limitations to accessing buprenorphine and different medicines for opioid use dysfunction.

“Half-measures and outdated insurance policies are costing lives, and we urge policymakers to behave. With hundreds of households and communities devastated by overdose deaths, the time for incremental change has handed,” Bobby Mukkamala, MD, AMA president-elect, stated in a press launch. “We want unwavering dedication to develop entry to lifesaving medicines, implement parity legal guidelines, and handle the evident gaps in hurt discount. We can’t stand by as outdated insurance policies and insurance coverage limitations stop sufferers from accessing evidence-based care.”

Based on the report, opioid prescriptions decreased from 260.5 million in 2012 to 125.9 million in 2023 for a discount of 51.7%, whereas decreases on the state-level throughout that point ranged between 36% and 68%.

These reductions in prescriptions didn’t lead to substantial decreases in drug-related mortality, nonetheless, with 107,543 overdose deaths occurring in 2023.

In the meantime, state prescription drug monitoring packages had been used greater than 1.4 billion instances in 2023, up from 61 million in 2014.

The AMA famous that buprenorphine prescriptions disbursed from retail pharmacies plateaued at over 15.6 million in 2023, possible as a result of elements akin to pharmacy reluctance to inventory the medicine, issues over suspicious order reporting necessities from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Company (DEA) and delays in care due to the restrictions.

In distinction, naloxone prescriptions from retail pharmacies have continued to develop, rising from round 555,000 in 2018 to virtually 2.2 million in 2023 for a rise of 291.5%.

The AMA highlighted a number of coverage suggestions for state and federal policymakers, urging for:

• state insurance coverage departments to “meaningfully” implement psychological well being and substance use dysfunction parity legal guidelines;
• elevated entry to naloxone in pharmacies, colleges, universities and public settings, and for these settings to undertake finest practices;
• the elimination of punitive insurance policies towards pregnant and parenting people who depend on medicines for opioid use dysfunction ;
• medical and different well being care skilled licensing boards to evaluate and rescind arbitrary restrictions on opioid remedy;
• all people with opioid use dysfunction or a psychological sickness coming into jail or jail to be screened upon entry and have entry to medicines for opioid use dysfunction;
• elevated entry to medicines for opioid use dysfunction by actions like eradicating prior authorization dosage necessities and step remedy for buprenorphine, having the DEA take away buprenorphine from its suspicious order reporting necessities till additional discover or authorizing methadone to be prescribed exterior of Opioid Remedy Program settings; and
• help of efforts aimed toward funding and making extra evidence-based hurt discount initiatives extra obtainable.

Mukkamala underlined that denials or delays of hurt discount companies, ache care and evidence-based therapy for substance use dysfunction “solely [result] in elevated struggling and demise.”

“Ending the epidemic is feasible, however rather more work have to be executed,” he stated.

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