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Nearly half of combat-wounded veterans report misuse of prescription opioids, resulting in tens of thousands of overdose deaths and billions of dollars in excess health spending; increased nonopioids could help...

 Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Mark Kelly (D-AZ) led the introduction of the Alternatives to Prevent Addiction in the Nation (Alternatives to PAIN) Act, bipartisan legislation that would provide greater access to...

U.S. Representatives Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA), Nanette Barragan (D-CA), Mike Kelly (R-PA) and Jimmy Panetta (D-CA) today reintroduced the “Alternatives to Prevent Addiction in the Nation (Alternatives to PAIN) Act,” legislation that would provide greater access to non-opioid...

Congressman Greg Landsman (D-OH-01) and Congressman Derrick Van Orden (R-WI-03) have introduced commonsense legislation to increase veterans access to nonopioid pain medications.

Overwhelming majority of voters strongly support non-opioid pain management solutions andfavor policies that increase access to these alternatives for seniors.

Proposed Rule details implementation of the Non-Opioid Prevent Addiction in the Nation (“NOPAIN”) Act

A new report conducted by the Moran Company, a Health Management Associates company, indicates that treatment of beneficiaries with opioid use disorder cost Medicare $33 billion in 2022. This analysis...

A new report conducted by the Moran Company, a Health Management Associates company, indicates that treatment of beneficiaries with opioid use disorder cost Medicare $33 billion in 2022. This analysis...

On April 17th, in the midst of Congressional consideration of the SUPPORT Act and in the aftermath of the enactment of the Non-Opioids Prevent Addiction in the Nation (“NOPAIN”) Act,...

Nearly half of combat wounded veterans report misuse of prescription opioids, resulting in tens of thousands of overdose deaths and billions of dollars in excess health spending; increased non-opioids could...

Today, the Senate took a crucial step forward in the fight to prevent opioid addiction by introducing the bipartisan Alternatives to Prevent Addiction in the Nation (PAIN) Act. The Alternatives to PAIN Act will ensure that all Americans can access safe, effective, non-addictive pain management approaches. In the process, the Alternatives to PAIN Act can prevent opioid addiction that occurs following an acute pain incident and save lives.

Today, Congress took a crucial step forward in the fight to prevent opioid addiction by introducing the bipartisan Alternatives to Prevent Addiction in the Nation (Alternatives to PAIN) Act.

Last year, I was proud to play a part in passing federal legislation to ensure access to non-opioid pain approaches for patients. The Non-Opioids Prevent Addiction in the Nation (NOPAIN) Act will go a long way toward fighting the opioid epidemic.

I have had a sense of duty since I was a kid. I guess you could say it was a calling to serve others. I have spent my entire adult life doing just that, beginning by becoming a United States Marine.

Our health care system shouldn’t let America’s heroes fall into addiction.

Fighting the epidemic should not fall solely on the shoulders of our city officials.

Two-thirds of veterans experience pain, and nearly half of combat-wounded veterans report misuse of prescription opioids.

Within an opioid epidemic that has touched countless lives across the country, drug overdose mortality rates among veterans increased by 53% from 2010 to 2019 resulting in over 42,000 deaths.

Our health-care system still acts as a gateway to opioid addiction for our nation’s seniors.

In a letter to the agency, the providers said CMS could use the 2024 Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System to increase access to non-opioid pain management but that the proposed rule "misses this opportunity."

The NOPAIN Act — which Congress passed in an end-of-year spending package — will take effect in 2025, setting up a separate Medicare payment for certain non-opioid pain management approaches in outpatient and ambulatory surgical settings.

Every effort to curb the deadly effects of the opioid crisis matters. But many downstream solutions don’t address the fact that millions of patients are needlessly exposed to prescription opioids each year.

Too often in our country, we focus on downstream solutions instead of facing our problems head on. The opioid epidemic is one of the most devastating examples, as we witnessed with our own son.

Decisions made daily by policymakers in Washington, DC can have deadly repercussions for families across the United States. Unfortunately, this became our reality when Taylor was unnecessarily exposed to opioids after surgery.

Governors from 11 states sent a letter to the Biden administration urging it to implement a federal policy ahead of a January 2025 deadline to help fight opioid deaths.

On Wednesday, 11 Democratic governors sent a letter to the Biden administration requesting faster implementation of a law aimed at expanding non-opioid pain treatments and substance use data, according to a copy shared first with Pulse.

As a proud Alabamian and a grieving mom, I am calling on my members of Congress to protect service members from the harms of addiction.

If we want a different result in our fight against opioid addiction, we can’t continue using the same downstream playbook and expecting different results.

In 2020, more than 5 million opioid prescriptions were filled in Illinois alone. The NOPAIN Act should go into effect a year early, in 2024, to make non-opioid pain medication more widely available.

I applaud the Food and Drug Administration for authorizing over-the-counter Narcan. However, this step, while important, is unlikely to make a dent in the current opioid epidemic on its own.

We advance the work of prevention each and every day at the state and community levels, but there are certain levers only federal healthcare leaders can pull to protect Illinoisans from the needless harms of opioid misuse and overdose.

Our nation’s reactive, rinse-and-repeat approach to the opioid crisis is a tragic oversight. It hasn’t worked, and, in fact, the problem’s gotten worse. Yet, we’re doubling down on such approaches? It makes little sense.

Every seven minutes. That’s how often we lose someone to a fatal opioid overdose.

Lawmakers have time and again taken steps to reverse the course of the opioid addiction crisis. The only issue? The problem continues to get worse.

Take it from me when I say we are not doing enough to prevent individuals from going down the road to opioid addiction. While nearly 81,000 people lost their lives to an opioid overdose in 2021, it has become easy to forget the human impact behind numbers like this.

Dozens of healthcare and patient advocacy groups wrote to congressional leaders, calling for lawmakers to pass the NOPAIN Act as part of its end-of-year package.

CDC issues updated guidance on prescribing opioids.

Deaths from drug and alcohol use are rising among America’s seniors. Drug overdose deaths more than tripled among people aged 65 and older during the past two decades, while deaths from alcohol abuse increased more than 18% from 2019 to 2020, according to data published Wednesday by the National Center for Health Statistics.

Today alone, around 220 Americans will die of an opioid-related overdose. Here in Illinois, we lost 3,013 people just last year to a fatal opioid overdose. Yet, opioids still remain the primary option for patients who are managing pain after outpatient surgery.

Throughout my life, I have always been a fixer. After I lost my father to drunk driving when I was a child, I became passionate about the power of prevention.

A bill that aims to stop opioid addiction before it starts has stalled in Congress for more than a year. A mother who lost her son to a fentanyl overdose says the cost of inaction is growing every day.

Between 6 and 20 percent of surgery patients initiate a long-term opioid use habit after a surgery. It’s easy to understand why, as 90 percent of these patients receive opioids to manage their pain. Sometimes in unimaginable quantities.

I am on the frontline of the opioid epidemic that is ravaging the nation. It has impacted me both personally and professionally in unimaginable ways.

Overdose deaths have hit an all-time high in the U.S.: over 107,000 in a single year. This crisis has been driven predominantly by opioid-related overdose deaths. With the total number of drug overdose deaths in the U.S. surpassing 1 million since 1999, it's clear the problem shows no signs of abating.

Focusing on access to overdose reversal drugs — while important — perpetuates opioids as the standard of care for treating postoperative pain. Such an approach misses the opportunity to prevent substance use.

Many people know him as the voice of the Detroit Red Wings, but at his core, Ken Daniels is a father and he has a very important message. As Father’s Day approaches, Local 4 is exploring the story of Jamie Daniels and how his father is honoring his life by helping those who struggle with addiction.

As drug overdose deaths in the U.S. continue to skyrocket, advocates and lawmakers are working to pass key legislation to help prevent opioid addiction before it starts.

Others in Colorado are looking to Congress. People like Dr. Sarah Werner with the SAFE Project are asking the federal government to move on a bill called the NOPAIN Act. The bill looks to expand access to opioid alternatives for Medicare patients.

Mental health advocates in Ketchikan are calling for local, state and federal officials to do more to address a surge in drug overdose deaths.

With hundreds of Utahns dying from opioid overdose each year, Aimee Alitzer and Sam Ball of Midvale’s Flourish Bakery (752 W. Center St.) spoke with Sen. Mitt Romney’s and Sen. Mike Lee’s offices in Washington, D.C., to advocate for the NOPAIN Act.

As a pre- and post-operative nurse, I see far too often how opioid-based pain treatments can lead to addiction. Luckily, legislation is now pending in Congress to tackle this issue.

As a Roxbury native, I have a deep love for my community. When the opioid epidemic’s toll on the neighborhood worsened drastically in recent years, I had to step in.

Bryan Talisayan, executive director of Mental Health America of Hawaiʻi, was among those advocates. He sat down with The Conversation to provide a snapshot of opioid use in Hawaiʻi.

The opioid epidemic continues to devastate communities across the country, including right here in Maryland, as opioid overdose remains among one of the state’s leading causes of death.

Juan Conde’s Jan. 12 article highlighted a critical fact that is often overlooked in discussions of the opioid crisis in Virginia and nationwide: A broad array of safe, effective non-opioid alternatives are available for treating pain following a surgery. Opioids aren’t the only option.

I hadn’t heard from Jeffrey Choate in a couple of months when, one evening in July, I received a jarring text message. He was alive, he assured me, but just barely.

The opioid addiction crisis has impacted every community in Oregon. Congress has a way to help stop the surge in overdoses.

New Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data estimates that in the 12 months ending in March, more than 10,400 Californians died of a drug overdose.

Times reporter Margo Snipe’s article about the shocking increase in overdose deaths across Tampa Bay’s Black community was a devastating but necessary piece. And Florida isn’t alone in this struggle.

During my work in a state-level behavioral health agency, I saw the devastating effects of substance abuse. That’s why I’ve supported prescription drug monitoring programs and reform in the way physicians and dentists prescribe treatments for managing pain.

Take it from me. After being prescribed opioids to manage my pain following a C-section, I soon became dependent on the drugs, falling into a years-long battle with substance use disorder, including heroin use, that even landed me in jail multiple times.

One Ames mom is fighting to bring awareness to the issue, hoping Congress passes the NOPAIN Act to give patients more options for managing pain.

Kim Robbins of Laurium injured her hip while serving, a career that included tours overseas in Germany. By 2015, it needed to be replaced. During the recovery process, she became addicted to the medication that was supposed to help her heal.

The nearly 1,800 lives lost, three-quarters of which are attributed to opioids, must serve as a call to action to curb the opioid crisis.

While the nation’s attention has understandably been focused on the pandemic over the past year, America’s opioid epidemic has only worsened. In 2020, over 1,300 Connecticut residents died of a drug overdose — a 10 percent increase from 2019.

Every year, 3.75 million patients go on to long-term opioid use after surgery. Unfortunately, opioids are the standard of care to treat postoperative pain – and they set unknowing New Jerseyans onto a dangerous path from which many never return.

To stem the tide of this crisis nationwide, leaders such as Ms. Lambert need resources right now, and an upstream effort to prevent Americans from needing their services in the first place.

Unfortunately, opioids are the standard of care to treat postoperative pain. As an anesthesiologist, I know first-hand how opioids can set unknowing North Carolinians onto a dangerous path.

In Iowa and nationwide, the pandemic has understandably dominated headlines. Yet another public health crisis has only worsened in the past year.

Following the CDC’s release of updated data regarding opioid-related deaths in 2020, Chris Fox, executive director of Voices for Non-Opioid Choices, issued the following statement.

In Colorado and nationwide, the COVID-19 pandemic has understandably dominated headlines. Yet another public health crisis, one that takes about 190 American lives every day, has only worsened in the past year.

The NOPAIN Act is a bill that shifts billing practices in Medicare to attempt to encourage more nonopioid solutions for pain. It doesn’t ban opioids or eliminate reimbursement for them. It attempts to make it easier to use nonopioids.

The stress, isolation and anxiety brought on by the pandemic have undeniably exacerbated the mental health and addiction crises in Iowa and across the country. And the past year has been particularly challenging for those suffering from opioid-use disorder.

As the Walla Walla chapter lead of Young People in Recovery, I work with community members to address this crisis every day. I also know that an essential step in reducing the human toll of the opioid epidemic is stopping addiction before it begins.

In a trend that mirrors what's occurring nationwide, the number of overdose deaths in Mercer County increased sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic and is on track to continue climbing.

After my son passed away, I decided to turn my grief into advocacy and do what I could to help others like Taylor. It’s more important than ever for our representatives in Congress to act and help stem the tide of the opioid epidemic.

No other father across the country should have to experience what I and so many other dads have – the loss of a child to opioid addiction. Congress must embrace prevention as a key tool to combating our nation’s opioid crisis.

The opioid epidemic has had a devastating effect on West Virginia communities, and it must be addressed from several approaches. One essential step in reducing the human toll of the opioid epidemic is stopping addiction before it begins.

Executive Director, Chris Fox talks about the NOPAIN Act and the opioid epidemic’s continued impact on Alabamians.

Despite years of lip service from the federal government about the importance of fighting the opioid epidemic that has ravaged not just West Virginia, but populations across the country, little effort has been put toward making a real difference.

In efforts to stop the skyrocketing opioid crises, experts want you and your family to know about alternative pain management. Putting you first KMVT spoke with Chris Fox, the Executive Director for Voices for Non-Opioid Choices.

For Lisa Bright, this Sunday will be the eighth Mother's Day without her son, Will. After getting ahold of prescription drugs at school as a teenager, Will struggled with addiction, recovery and relapse for 10 years before the Trussville family lost their only son to a heroin overdose in 2012.

Justin Phillips, Executive Director of Overdose Lifeline, explained that often, people's first introduction to opioids is from a legitimate pain prescription; adding that people are unaware how you can have surgical procedures without using opioids after. That's why she's pushing for the NOPAIN Act.

Idaho Drug-Free Youth Executive Director Kati Durkin joined a virtual roundtable discussion with other advocacy groups and representatives from Senator Mike Crapo's office to discuss efforts on Capitol Hill to tackle the opioid epidemic.

Greg McNeil, a Summit County father who lost his son to an opioid overdose, is hoping a new bill called Non-opioids Prevent Addiction in the Nation (NOPAIN) Act can help families better cope with addiction before it's too late.

U.S. Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) introduced the Non-Opioids Prevent Addiction in the Nation (NOPAIN) Act.

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators, including Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., have reintroduced the Non-Opioids Prevent Addiction in the Nation (NOPAIN) Act.

In 2018, 287 people in Iowa succumbed to a fatal drug overdose, the last year for which the CDC had data — mirroring the national downward trend. Now, fatal overdoses in Iowa are rising again, surpassing their 2019 number in November.

Along with causing a crisis of its own, the COVID-19 pandemic, which has now impacted the nation for roughly nine months, has exacerbated longstanding crises in healthcare, employment, housing and education. The opioid epidemic is no exception.

Given the very real risks of opioid medications and the severity of Pennsylvania’s addiction crisis, we can’t wait to act. Antiquated federal regulations have helped to create our nation’s over-reliance on opioids, which remain the cheapest option for health-care providers because of how insurance payments are administered under the current Medicare reimbursement rule.

U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst lead an opioid roundtable discussion at the Van G. Miller Adult Learning Center in Waterloo with a group of nine doctors, addiction specialists and others.

Congresswoman Elaine Luria announced she is supporting the Non-Opioids Prevent Addiction in the Nation (NOPAIN) Act.

Opioid addiction has been a problem for a long time, but 2020 has made it worse. Congress needs to do something in the upcoming coronavirus relief package to address the growing opioid crisis that has resulted because of the pandemic.

Op-Ed: Action needed to combat opioid epidemic and provide providers and patients choices in pain management.

While hospitals themselves must continue to maintain on-call staff and critical supplies of medicines, we need federal action to combat additional challenges, particularly those that occur outside hospital walls.

While Indiana begins to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, there is reason to believe the fight against the opioid epidemic has only become more difficult.

According to a recent analysis of opioid-prescribing practices, approximately 3 million Americans become regular opioid users following surgery every year, and unfortunately, the coronavirus pandemic is triggering even more abuse, relapse, and overdose fatalities.

Getting the resources you need to battle addiction is hard enough. Doing it during COVID-19 can be nearly impossible, and the current state of our country could be making the severity of Alabama’s addiction crisis far worse.

Arizonans already wrestling with addiction now face the added strain of COVID-19 social isolation or may worry about job security and being able to pay bills and other necessary expenses.

The social isolation and stress caused by Covid-19 can be incredibly difficult for those battling substance abuse.

Opioid addiction, abuse and deaths have been a consistent problem in the United States and Missouri for decades. The coronavirus pandemic has only increased and highlighted these problems more.

An unintended consequence of restarting elective surgeries may be a flood of new opioid prescriptions owing to the backlog of deferred procedures.

As Nevada’s reopening continues, more patients will get medical procedures they’ve put off. As a result, more will leave the hospital with opioid prescriptions and potentially become addicted.

As COVID-19 tests America’s health care capacity, doctors have been forced to put their resources where they matter most, delaying non-essential operations until our current public health crisis is under control.

Whether treating someone infected with COVID-19 or providing routine post-operative care, our priority is what’s best for the patient. That’s why I’m concerned right now with an apparent surge in opioids overdoses being reported in communities across the country.

Drug and alcohol counselors like me know this is a dangerous time. Arizonans already wrestling with addiction now face the strain of COVID-19 social isolation or may worry about job security.

Nurses care for patients. Whether treating someone infected with COVID-19 or providing routine post-operative care, our priority is what’s best for the patient.

Arizona hospitals and healthcare professionals shifted their focus in recent months to responding to the COVID-19 crisis. But early indications now suggest the pandemic may be helping to fuel our nation’s other public health emergency: opioid abuse.

March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month and, though survival rates have fortunately risen over the last few decades, another issue has appeared for far too many patients: opioid dependence and addiction after surgery.

In a crisis, words are simply not enough. Our country must have bold leadership and the commitment to follow through with bold action.

Advocates for non-opioid pain management alternatives are calling on policymakers to increase access to non-opioid pain management alternatives, including unbundling certain drugs in outpatient settings and increasing provider training.

Election season is upon us, and candidates all over the ideological spectrum are promoting their platforms to improve the lives of everyday Americans. Many of these potential leaders have grand plans to improve health care inthe United States.