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Friday, May 6, 2016
Three undeniable truths surround Ohio’s prescription drug abuse and heroin epidemic: Progress has been made, more needs to be done, and collective efforts to treat patients with substance use disorders must expand.
That is the unequivocal position of the American Medical Association Task Force to Reduce Opioid Abuse, of Ohio’s physicians, and of health care professionals across the country — and there are some signs of progress.
According to IMS Health, Ohio has seen the supply of prescription opioids reduced by more than 1.3 million prescriptions since 2013. This reduction is a result of constructive state legislation, more judicious prescribing practices, and the efforts of Ohio-based healthcare groups dedicated to solving this problem.
The Ohio Department of Health found that unintentional drug overdoses caused the deaths of nearly 2,500 Ohioans in 2014 alone.
Without the overdose-reversal drug naloxone, Ohio would likely have suffered thousands of more deaths.
The AMA and the OSMA want to remind physicians of the importance of prescribing naloxone and urge physicians to start co-prescribing naloxone to patients at risk of overdose.
Along with the creation of Smart Rx, the OSMA also assembled a Prescription Drug Abuse Advisory Committee to provide education and resources to aid physicians to better understand how to treat patients with substance-use disorders. More physicians must be trained to recognize patients with a substance-use disorder in order to refer them for proper treatment.
Physicians must also be trained and certified to treat patients with medication-assisted treatment using a medication called buprenorphine, that can help patients with a substance-use disorder return to a functional, productive life. At the national level, AMA advocacy helped persuade federal officials to increase the number of patients that each physician can treat with buprenorphine.
And there is one final issue that must be addressed — one that might be the most important and the most difficult. Opioid-use disorder is a chronic disease, and recovery is an ongoing process. To treat patients to the best of their ability, physicians must provide top-notch treatment — and also fight stigma.Ohioans struggling to beat addiction deserve the best quality of care, and that includes a healthy dose of compassion. We all have work to do to change the national discussion from what is “ wrong” with patients who suffer from a substance-use disorder to “how we can help” a patient address a treatable medical condition.
Protecting Ohioans — and patients across the country — means that physicians need to improve our practices, enhance our abilities, and lead the effort. That is both the professional obligation and responsibility of physicians from coast to coast.