On an otherwise calm August morning I sat in the Clermont County Courthouse listening to the devastating story of a local couple who had struggled to save both their lives and the lives of their children as they wrestled with the throes of addiction. Their stories started as so many do, from childhood exposure to… Read More »
Two years ago, U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) data revealed a sudden drop in life expectancy in the U.S. for 2015.1,2 It was the first decline in 20 years. The trend continued in 2016,3 and the latest data for 20174 show the downward trend continuing for the third year in a row, which makes… Read More »
The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives is working to raise funds for its newly created Opioid Health IT Action Center. At its CHIME18 CIO Fall Forum in San Diego this week, the organization said it’s launched a fund-raising campaign for the center, which is a web-based repository for healthcare organizations looking for resources and… Read More »
Health IT vendor Cerner is offering clients a new toolkit integrated into clinical workflows to ensure safe prescribing of opioids by providers. Cerner’s Opioid Toolkit includes analytics to assess prescribing patterns, clinical decision support for management of opioids and an algorithm to identify the potential for substance use disorder. Eva Karp, Cerner senior vice president… Read More »
(Reuters) – Staff reviewers of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday raised safety concerns over Trevena Inc’s opioid injection to treat acute pain, saying the treatment has an abuse and overdose potential. The treatment, oliceridine, aims to manage moderate-to-severe acute pain in adult patients for whom an intravenous opioid is warranted. FDA staff… Read More »