The opioid crisis shows no signs of slowing in 2022 after being exacerbated by the COVID-19 global pandemic. US Overdose Deaths Hit Record Highs Last Year More than 107,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in 2021, a record number according to estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s approximately one overdose death in the United States every five minutes. The 107,000 drug overdose deaths in 2020 — compared to just over 70,000 deaths in 2019 — represent the largest year-to-year increase in recent history for the United States and by far the largest absolute number of drug overdose deaths ever reported. Pandemic Worsened Opioid Epidemic Researchers have theorized that the worsening of the opioid epidemic during the pandemic is due to several factors, including More dangerous drug supply (synthetic opioids such as fentanyl) Disruption of treatment and recovery support systems Social isolation Increased levels of social and economic stress Emergency medical services reported increases in overdose-related cardiac events, with rates 50% higher in 2020 than May 2019. States and cities documented increases in overdose deaths as well as nonfatal drug overdose cases. The states of Rhode Island and ...

The COVID-19 pandemic may feel like it's coming to an end, as vaccines become available and mandates begin lifting across the U.S. Unfortunately, the country can still feel the toll the pandemic took on American's mental health, as evident by the increase in anxiety, depression, substance abuse, and overdoses in the past year. From January to September 2020, 1.5 million people accessed an online screening program offered by Mental Health America (MHA). MHA explored the data from these screenings and released their findings in their 2021 State of Mental Health in America report. Here's what they found: Skyrocketing Numbers of People Seek Help for Anxiety and Depression From January to September 2020, the number of people who took their online anxiety screening increased by 93% from 2019. During that same time, MHA saw a 62% increase in depression screens. Severe Depression and Anxiety On the Rise More than 8 in 10 people who took a depression screen in September 2020 scored with moderate to severe depression symptoms. The number of people screening with moderate to severe symptoms of depression and anxiety continued to increase ...

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on the opioid epidemic, making treatment for opioid use disorder more difficult for patients. Pandemic Disrupts Medical System, Reducing Patient Access to Care The pandemic has deeply disrupted the medical system in the U.S., as health care facilities limited and even canceled elective procedures and outpatient visits. Fearful of contracting the virus, patients also avoided seeking care for new and urgent conditions. An investigative report published in JAMA Internal Medicine found decreases in emergency department visits that ranged from 41.5% in Colorado to 63.5% in New York, with the most rapid rates of decrease in visits occurring in early March 2020. Medical Assisted Treatment Challenges During COVID-19 Even before the pandemic began, only a minority of people with opioid use disorder (OUD) received evidence-based treatment with medications, and many people who use drugs struggled to get access to lifesaving harm reduction services like syringe service programs. "People with substance use disorder already face many obstacles to treatment,” reports HealthAffairs.org. “However, public health precautions such as social distancing and self-quarantine—necessary measures, by all accounts, to contain the spread ...

In Erie County, New York, 85 people died from overdoses during the first four months of 2020, a 100% increase from the same period last year. The increase in opioid fatalities is not an isolated incident; overdose deaths have been rising nationwide. The New York Times has referred to the COVID-19 pandemic as a "national relapse trigger," resulting in an acceleration of overdose deaths during the pandemic. Opioid Fatalities Increasing During Pandemic The primary driver of the increases in overdose deaths appears to be synthetic opioids, such as illicitly manufactured fentanyl. Overdose deaths increased 38.4% from the 12 months leading up to June 2019 compared with the 12 months leading up to May 2020. 37 of 38 U.S. jurisdictions reported increases in synthetic opioid-involved overdose deaths. 18 of these jurisdictions reported fatality increases greater than 50%. 10 western states reported over a 98% increase in synthetic opioid-involved deaths. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid often mixed with heroin and/ or cocaine as a combination product -- with or without the user’s knowledge -- to increase its euphoric effects. Overdose deaths involving cocaine also increased by 26.5%, likely linked ...

Western Health Advantage (WHA) is offering Gatekeeper Innovation Inc.'s Rx Locking Cap as a covered benefit to its members to prevent misuse or abuse of in-home prescription medications. Learn more about this exciting new benefit for WHA members. WHA Provides No-Cost Safe Dispensing Devices to Battle Opioid Misuse According to the 2018 National Survey on Drug Use and Abuse, more than 70 percent of individuals who illegally use prescription pain relievers obtained them through their friends or family, often from the home medicine cabinet. In 2017, an estimated 18 million people (more than 6 percent of those aged 12 and older) had misused controlled substances at least once in the past year. Western Health Advantage (WHA) is a non-profit HMO health plan headquartered in Sacramento, California, serving 9 Northern California counties (Sacramento, El Dorado, Placer, Yolo, Colusa, Solano, Napa, Sonoma, and Marin). "The opioid and other prescription medication abuse epidemic calls for solutions on many fronts, including the use of abuse-resistant packaging," WHA announced in its winter 2020 issue of Provider Insider. "For this reason, WHA is introducing the availability of a prescription locking ...