Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
PhRMA To Yank Millions In Funding From Nonprofit Geared Toward Helping Those Addicted To Opioids
A nonprofit that made ambitious promises to help people addicted to opioids is losing its biggest financial backer 鈥 the drug lobby. PhRMA, which has provided the Addiction Policy Forum with about 90 percent of its funding, cut its donation from $8.1 million to $6 million this year. The lobby will end all support in 2020, PhRMA and the forum鈥檚 CEO, Jessica Hulsey Nickel, confirmed. (Owemohle,11/25)
When Matthew Braun gets out of medical school, he'll be able to prescribe opioids. A decade ago, he was addicted to them. "The first time I ever used an opioid, I felt the most confident and powerful I'd ever felt," Braun says. "So I said, 'This is it. I want to do this the rest of my life.' "Opioids took away his anxiety, his inhibitions, his depression. And they were easy to get. (Hamilton, 11/26)
Opioid-related overdose deaths have dropped again in Massachusetts, but the presence of the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl is on the rise. New data from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health show an almost 6% decrease in opioid-related overdose deaths in the first nine months of 2019, compared with the same period in 2018. (Becker, 11/25)
鈥淭his is progress and this is significant, and I鈥檓 encouraged by it,鈥 said Dr. Monica Bharel, the state鈥檚 public health commissioner. 鈥淭his means that our public health approach to this medical illness is working. We still have a lot of work to do but we鈥檙e heading in the right direction.鈥 (Freyer and Lukpat, 11/25)
Overdoses are the leading cause of workplace deaths in Massachusetts. And among Massachusetts workers who died of opioid-related overdoses from 2011 to 2015, a quarter worked in construction. With these startling facts in mind, Commodore Builders, a Boston construction management firm, on Monday rolled out a program to help its employees and their family members navigate the addiction treatment system. (Freyer, 11/25)
Private insurance reimbursement rates to Ohio mental health providers appear to be going down, according to a new report, and more state residents are seeking inpatient and outpatient mental health and addiction treatment outside of network. (Hancock, 11/25)
