AXIOS May 12, 2022
Drugs for treating opioid abuse aren’t reaching most high-risk patients, potentially widening gaps in care as overdose deaths hit record highs.
The big picture: New provisional data show a 15% surge in overdose deaths during the pandemic, rekindling a debate over whether enough Americans in the throes of the addiction crisis have access to potentially life-saving treatments.
Driving the news: Nearly 53% of patients with opioid use disorder were not prescribed buprenorphine, which reduces the risk of future overdoses, according to a new analysis of insurance claims from about 180,000 people.
- More than 70% of opioid users who also misuse other substances, such as alcohol or methamphetamine, weren’t prescribed the drug, per the analysis in JAMA Network Open, which...