Physicians and other providers
in Indiana and the U.S. are
making progress combating the
opioid epidemic, the AMA’s 2019
Opioid Progress Report shows.
Data used for the report showed
Indiana’s INSPECT prescription
drug monitoring program
received more than 3 million
queries in 2018, an increase of
146% over 2016. The number of
medical professionals registered
to use INSPECT rose almost 25%
from 2017 to 2018, while opioid
prescriptions filled in Indiana
declined 12.6% in the same
period. The report found health
care providers across the U.S.
are making similar progress.
The report, released June 6 by
the AMA Opioid Task Force, also
tracks actions by physicians
and medical societies to
enhance education, increase
the co-prescribing of naloxone,
and increase the number of
physicians certified to provide
office-based treatment of opioid
use disorder (OUD) using
buprenorphine. However, the
AMA noted that deaths from
heroin and synthetic opioids
are at historic levels and urged
policy makers to end barriers to
evidence-based OUD treatments.
Learn more at
www.end-opioid-epidemic.org.
Read the report at
www.ismanet.org/OpioidProgressReport.