SAFE GC Coalition: AMA’s 2021 Overdose Epidemic Report

Overdoses and deaths are spiking even as physicians and other clinicians have greatly increased the use of prescription drug-monitoring programs (PDMPs)—more than 910 million times in 2020, according to the American Medical Association's (AMA) 2021 Overdose Epidemic Report. Data has increased 21% from the 750 million times that PDMPs were used in 2019 by doctors and others.

The report also highlights that more than 106,000 physicians and other health professionals have an "X-waiver" allowing them to prescribe buprenorphine for the treatment of opioid-use disorder, an increase of 70,000 since 2017, yet between 80% to 90% of people with a substance-use disorder (SUD) did not receive treatment for their substance use disorder.

The report outlines how the AMA has collaborated with policymakers, medical associations, patient organizations and other key stakeholders to:

• Influence over a dozen states in enacting laws directing that opioid-litigation funds be used mainly for public health uses.
• Provide tangible actions for policymakers and public health officials to increase access to evidence-based care.
• Promote evidence-based recommendations to help employers increase access to care for pain, SUDs and harm-reduction services.
• Advocate the enactment several dozen laws and regulations to increase access to medications to treat opioid-use disorder, meaningfully enforce mental health and SUD parity laws, decriminalize drug-checking supplies and remove barriers to evidence-based care for patients with pain.
• Identify the gaps in states' overdose-reporting systems.
• Support the National Association of Insurance Commissioners' work to meaningfully address health inequities in its work to advance mental health and SUD parity.
• Enact legislation in Oklahoma and Colorado to support individualized patient-care decisions for patients with pain, including opioid therapy and nonopioid pain care.

The SAFE Glen Cove Coalition is conducting an opioid prevention awareness campaign entitled. “Keeping Glen Cove SAFE,” in order to educate and update the community regarding opioid use and its consequences. To learn more about the SAFE Glen Cove Coalition please follow us on www.facebook.com/safeglencovecoalition or visit SAFE’s website read the full AMA Overdose Epidemic Report at www.safeglencove.org.