Battling the opioid epidemic: A roundup of recent news and information

Study calls incidence of untreated mental illness and substance abuse ‘staggering’
Hundreds of thousands of Michigan residents with a mental illness or substance use disorder are untreated, a crisis compounded by a shortage of health professionals and treatment facilities, according to the findings of a report** released July 30. Commissioned by the Michigan Health Endowment Fund, the analysis cites anxiety disorders, depression and alcohol use disorder as among conditions most left untreated. The fund is a grant-making arm of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.

Patients taking opioids could face health care access problems
Taking opioids for chronic pain may make it hard to find primary care, according to a University of Michigan Health Lab blog.** According to a new study, 40% of 194 primary care clinics contacted said they wouldn’t accept a new patient who takes Percocet daily for pain from a past injury, no matter what kind of health insurance they had. Another 17% said they would want more information before deciding whether to take on the patient. However, the team did find that larger clinics and those that offer safety net coverage were three times more likely than others to accept patients who currently take opioids for chronic pain. The findings were published in JAMA Network Open.**

Michigan doctors writing fewer opioid prescriptions
Michigan doctors wrote 1.4 million fewer opioid prescriptions in 2018 — a 15% drop — than they did in 2017, according to newly released data from state officials, MLive.com** reported July 1. Overall, the number of prescriptions of controlled substances dropped 11.5% in 2018. It's the biggest year-over-year decrease in prescriptions Michigan has seen in recent history; a decline that began in 2015. Part of that is due to the state's tracking system, called the Michigan Automated Prescription System, or MAPS, which launched in 2017.

Where did all the pain pills go?
New information provides a look at where the drugs responsible for the opioid epidemic ended up, the Detroit Free Press** reported July 19. Michigan was flooded with almost 3 billion prescription pain pills between 2006 and 2012, fueling the opioid crisis, according to a Washington Post analysis** of a government database. Ogemaw County, home to the northern Michigan communities of West Branch and Rose City, had the heaviest saturation of pills: 125.7 pills per person a year. Overall, it received just over 19 million pills.

Number of Michigan’s drug overdose deaths down slightly
Are the country’s united efforts to fight the opioid epidemic starting to have an effect? New information shows that may be the case. The Detroit Free Press** reported July 19 that the number of drug overdose deaths declined slightly in Michigan and across the nation in 2018, according to preliminary information released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Drug overdose deaths fell 3.7% in Michigan, from 2,690 in 2017 to 2,591 in 2018, according to the CDC report. Nationally, there were about 68,557 overdose deaths, a 5% decline from 72,224 deaths in 2017. It is the first decline in drug overdose deaths since 1990.

Helping expectant mothers with mental illness, substance abuse
Blue Cross recently awarded a $90,000 grant to Cherry Health in Grand Rapids to help fund services for high-risk expectant mothers with mental illness, substance use disorder or insufficient prenatal care. The grant supports Blue Cross’ mission to address the growing opioid epidemic in Michigan.

More than 100 Kent County residents died of an opioid overdose in 2017, said Kelley Root, West Michigan regional sales director at Blue Cross. We also know from the National Institute of Drug Abuse that untreated opioid use disorder during pregnancy can have devastating consequences on an unborn child.

Cherry Health is Michigan’s largest Federally Qualified Health Center. More than 20% of its patients are uninsured, and 95% earn below the federal poverty level.

The grant is part of Blue Cross’ Strengthening the Safety Net program. The program has provided more than $14 million in grants since 2005.

Prescribing opioids for a sprained ankle?
While ankle sprain injuries are common, a new report from Michigan Medicine** suggests that the rate of opioids prescribed to those patients has become uncommonly high. The authors urge fellow physicians to be aware of the current treatment guidelines.

**Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan doesn’t own or control this website.