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Results sorted by updated date (newest first)
Posted 5/13/2020 (updated 3/28/2024)
In recent years, much attention in the U.S. has been focused on the opioid crisis, which was responsible for nearly 46,000 overdose deaths in 2018. This crisis initially began to accelerate in the early 2000s with a steady rise in the abuse of prescription pain medications, and beginning around 2010, opioid deaths increasingly involved heroin. As of 2013, the ready availability of potent synthetic opioids such as fentanyl ushered in a new era of rapidly increasing opioid overdose deaths, with the total number of opioid deaths doubling between 2013 and 2018. Deaths involving synthetic opioids have continued to rise very rapidly, even as involvement of commonly prescribed prescription opioids and heroin has leveled off recently.
Posted 8/21/2020 (updated 3/28/2024)
The Virtual Town Hall on Health Disparities Among Racial and Ethnic Minority Populations in Rural America was held on August 12, 2020. The presentation and recording of the webinar are included in this resource.
Posted 12/21/2022 (updated 3/27/2024)
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration released a notice of proposed rulemaking that would allow certified opioid treatment programs to begin prescribing the drug via audio-only or video-enabled telehealth. See additional information under Policy Updates below. The proposed changes come on top of recent findings by HHS of the positive impact of its revised Practice Guidelines for the Administration of Buprenorphine for Treating Opioid Use Disorder that removed two longstanding requirements for obtaining a waiver to treat up to 30 patients with buprenorphine: 1) the requirement for specific training, and 2) the need for otherwise eligible clinicians to certify their ability to provide or refer patients for counseling and other services. Rural primary care providers have obtained the DEA waiver at a lower rate than urban clinicians; decreased burden and greater flexibility in the guidelines, along with broader use of telehealth could help close that gap.