USA Today: Obama Care repeal jeopardizes mental health, addiction coverage

USA Today published an article on Jan. 8, 2017 about the consequences to repealing the Affordable Care Act otherwise known as Obama Care.   Please learn about the consequences of acting hastily to repeal this legislation without thinking of about the consequences to those seeking treatment for addictions and mental health.  Visit   http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/01/08/obamacare-repeal-jeopardizes-mental-health-addiction-coverage/96199628/

Substance-use treatment under Medicaid jumps, following expansion of program and increase in abuse of painkillers

Kentucky Health News reports that Kentucky’s expanded Medicaid program covered approximately 11,000 substance-use treatment services in the second quarter of 2016, a huge increase from the 1,500 services from January through March 2014, the first quarter that Medicaid was expanded under federal health reform.  The Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky has published a report that provides an overview of substance use in Kentucky,focusing particularly on issues related to prescription opioid painkillers and heroin. It examines the rise of substance use in Kentucky, compares the Commonwealth to the U.S. and other states, and discusses recent provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) designed to increase access to substance use treatment. Finally, this report examines early data on the effects of implementation of the ACA on substance use in Kentucky.  To read the full report visit http://files.constantcontact.com/1b4946a6001/016c30c7-da57-4a02-9116-1ea07cdb9eae.pdf 

As Fentanyl Spreads, States Step Up Responses

Fifty times stronger than heroin, fentanyl is showing up in more places, leaving state and local health and law enforcement officials scrambling to stanch the death toll.

Source: As Fentanyl Spreads, States Step Up Responses

Medicaid Expands Access to Lifesaving Naloxone

A key component of the national strategy and many state strategies for preventing overdose deaths from opioids is to put the opioid-reversal drug naloxone into the hands of the right people at the right time. State actions to counter deaths from opioid overdoses, which numbered over 33,000 in 2015, include allowing physicians to prescribe naloxone to family members and friends of opioid users, allowing pharmacists to dispense naloxone without a prescription, training lay people to administer it, modifying civil and criminal liability rules governing its use, creating grant programs to purchase naloxone for first responders, and ensuring that Medicaid reimburses naloxone prescriptions. Recent evidence shows that states that have actively promoted naloxone experienced 9 percent to 11 percent reductions in opioid-related deaths.

Source: Medicaid Expands Access to Lifesaving Naloxone

FDA approves once-monthly injectable buprenorphine product

Dec. 1,2017

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) this week announced it has approved a once-monthly injectable buprenorphine product for the treatment of opioid use disorder in patients who have started treatment with a sublingual film buprenorphine-containing product, such as Suboxone.  Sublocade, the once-monthly injectable, is designed for patients who have been on a stable dose of buprenorphine treatment for seven days.

Prior to its approval by the FDA, Sublocade was evaluated in two clinical studies of 848 adults with diagnoses of moderate-to-severe OUD who had begun treatment with a sublingual film buprenorphine product. Results showed patients treated with Sublocade had more weeks without positive urine tests or self-reports of opioid use, and a higher portion of patients exhibited no signs of illicit opioid use through the treatment period when compared with a placebo group.

Read the entire article at https://www.addictionpro.com/article/treatment/fda-approves-once-monthly-injectable-buprenorphine-product-0?utm_campaign=Enews&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=59109397&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_HEXjNErtqkoZZbyPEjs0xr-oSBC2aiypx8ah35UksnJioysivS_ccv03AEk6TBFUdUA5LZlv025KZdiI0mQR-kkOs_Q&_hsmi=59109397