Opioid Use Disorders

In this edition, drug discounts through Medicare price negotiations, opioid use has fallen 15% annually since 2014 and more.

Published results showed 10.5% of patients who underwent surgery for a tibial shaft fracture between January 2016 and June 2020 had prolonged opioid use, with an increased risk for patients who used opioids preoperatively.

NEW YORK — In this Healio Video Perspective from the American Psychiatric Association annual meeting, Candace Hatten-Powell, MD, talks about opioid-sparing medications that may be used following bariatric surgery.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration issued a final rule that permanently allows patients to be prescribed buprenorphine via telehealth, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced in a press release.

Racial and ethnic disparities in buprenorphine treatment duration increased from 2006 to 2020, but particularly more in recent years, researchers wrote in a research letter in JAMA Psychiatry.

A combination of analgesics prescribed with gabapentin after dental procedures was shown to be just as effective for treating pain as opioids, researchers reported in JAMA Network Open.

An increase of methadone-involved overdose deaths beginning in March 2020 was linked to a rise in overdose deaths from illicitly made fentanyl, not policy changes for take-home methadone, data show.

By developing relationships based on trust and open communication, nephrology nurses have a unique opportunity to help patients with kidney disease safely manage chronic pain, according to a speaker from the CDC.