Advocacy X Substance Use
Topic: Substance Use
Summary:
Substance use in the United States remains a major problem in the US despite widespread recognition and attempts to combat this issue. 19.7 million Americans struggled with substance use in 2017. It is estimated that the cost of alcohol, illicit drug and opioid use alone in the US costs >$500 billion annually with $64 billion in direct healthcare costs. In the emergency department we see the full spectrum of this disease, from acute events such as overdose and withdrawal to long term chronic health conditions, social isolation, mental health and other poor predictors of health. This provides an opportunity to recognize failures in the system and advocate for solutions to improve the health of our patients struggling with substance use. This issue has been amplified during the Covid Pandemic, during which time nearly each state saw an increase in deaths from opioid overdose and 2020 deaths are expected to not only be the highest numbers on record but also the highest percentage increase on record (https://www.commonwealthfund.org/blog/2021/spike-drug-overdose-deaths-during-covid-19-pandemic-and-policy-options-move-forward) (https://www.samhsa.gov/data/report/2017-nsduh-annual-national-report)
Big News:
AMA reporting on Opioid epidemic surge during covid and suggested policy interventions https://www.ama-assn.org/system/files/2020-12/issue-brief-increases-in-opioid-related-overdose.pdf
Commonwealth fund analysis of Opioid epidemic during 2020 and policy options going forward https://www.commonwealthfund.org/blog/2021/spike-drug-overdose-deaths-during-covid-19-pandemic-and-policy-options-move-forward
AAMC reports on the house subcommittee hearings on the opioid epidemic https://www.aamc.org/advocacy-policy/washington-highlights/house-subcommittee-holds-hearing-opioid-epidemic-within-covid-19-pandemic
Substance use concerns and reforms under President Biden in the setting of the ongoing pandemic https://www.npr.org/2021/01/29/960722531/with-biden-team-focused-on-other-crises-experts-say-drug-epidemic-is-exploding
Recent News:
RSS feed https://news.google.com/search?q=addiction%20healthcare%20when%3A7d&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US%3Aen
can either run down the right side of the page as a column or be its own click and open page
Advocacy Tools, Resources and Efforts:
Evidenced based screening tools:
Quick ED Screening tool
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6077851/figure/Fig1/
(article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6077851/)
Federal Laws related to Substance use from Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
https://www.samhsa.gov/about-us/who-we-are/laws-regulations
Mental Health Treatment Locator Map by SAMSHA
https://findtreatment.samhsa.gov/locator
National Association for Addiction Professionals Advocacy Page
https://www.naadac.org/advocacy
Levitt Center ongoing projects
http://www.levittcenter.org/emergency-departments-alcohol
Policies by governing bodies:
AMA: Issue Brief on the opioid epidemic during covid https://www.ama-assn.org/system/files/2020-12/issue-brief-increases-in-opioid-related-overdose.pdf
ACEP: Resource page available here https://www.acep.org/by-medical-focus/mental-health-and-substanc-use-disorders/
https://www.acep.org/by-medical-focus/mental-health-and-substanc-use-disorders/opioids/
Specific Policy statements:
Alcohol Advertising
Alcohol Screening in the Emergency Department
Distracted and Impaired Driving
Drug Take-Back Programs
Electronic Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs
Naloxone Access and Utilization for Suspected Opioid Overdoses
Naloxone Prescriptions by Emergency Physicians
Optimizing the Treatment of Acute Pain in the Emergency Department
SAEM No formal position statement but does have a dedicated page: https://www.saem.org/resources/substance-use
American College of Physicians:
The Association for Addiction Specialists:
https://www.naadac.org/position-statements-issue-briefs
Contact us: