Author: bkellaway

Chronic Pain Costs Are High to Ontario Health Care System and to Individual Patients

Original post: Newswise - Substance Abuse Chronic Pain Costs Are High to Ontario Health Care System and to Individual Patients

Costs of patients who develop chronic post-surgical pain could range from $2.5 million to $4.1 million a year, in one Ontario hospital alone, according to a study in Pain Management.

Stepping Up to the Opioid Crisis

Original post: Newswise - Substance Abuse Stepping Up to the Opioid Crisis

Newswise imageNearly 2 million people in the United States are addicted to prescription opioids, and millions more feel the pain, including their families, friends and clinicians. How did we get here? “When we look back in 20 years I want us to say, ‘This is when the country woke up, when we as clinicians decided to step up in our role as leaders, as advocates, to create a foundation for better health.

Opioid Unknowns

Original post: Newswise - Substance Abuse Opioid Unknowns

Newswise imageNearly 15 percent of opioid-naive patients hospitalized under Medicare are discharged with a new prescription for opioids, according to a study published today in JAMA Internal Medicine.  Among those patients who received a prescription, 40 percent were still taking opioids 90 days after discharge. The rate of prescription varied almost twofold between hospitals, with some hospitals discharging as many as 20 percent of patients with a prescription for opioids.

The Addiction Medicine Foundation Accredits Four More Fellowship Programs, Bringing Total Accredited Programs to 40

The Addiction Medicine Foundation today announced the accreditation of four additional fellowship programs to train addiction medicine physicians. The Foundation has supported the establishment of 40 addiction medicine fellowship training programs to date, based at major medical schools and hospitals across North America.