Addiction is an emergency: end wait times for services and expand access to life-saving medications

 The pandemic landscape has exacerbated the scope of the opioid crisis and challenged the ability of the healthcare infrastructure to respond. In 2020, more than 93,000 people died from overdoses, up 30 percent from the previous year and the highest number since the federal government declared a public health emergency in 2017. Fueled by a surge in over-the-counter opioids, particularly heroin and illicit fentanyl, 2021 is on track to be the deadliest year ever recorded for the opioid crisis in the United States.

When a patient seeks help to combat their addiction, it can be a fleeting moment that has the magnitude of an emergency. A landmark 2015 study found that emergency department visits represent an opportunity to significantly improve access to buprenorphine-based treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD). Buprenorphine is a highly effective Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved medication that prevents craving and withdrawal symptoms and prevents relapse and overdose. Currently, the 5,000 acute care hospital emergency rooms across the country are a critical part of the addiction treatment infrastructure. The treatment is not the current standard of care for OUD patients in emergency departments; however, it works and can be applied in any hospital - rural, urban, small, large, academic, or critical access. If you are looking for an addiction treatment center then the Best addiction treatment center in Islamabad Willigways.

California used the first round of federal opioid treatment grants in 2018 to invest in expanding access to OUD care through ED visits under a program called CA Bridge. An evaluation of the program found that of the 12,000 individuals identified with OUD in the state's emergency departments, 60 percent received evidence-based medication-assisted addiction treatment (MAT) and 40 percent attended follow-up appointments, compared to studies in which follow-up rates for participants in control groups ranged from 7.6 percent to 37.0 percent. Aside from the program's impact on patients, all 52 participating hospitals reported continuing the model eight months after formal funding ended.

We believe that California's TEP-based approach to expanding access to OUD treatment could be expanded to emergency departments nationwide with some fundamental changes in policy and payment practices.Willingways.org

Addiction as an emergency: breaking the status quo.

Addiction is a treatable chronic disease, and like other chronic diseases, untreated addiction is life-threatening. Similar to a heart attack, the risk of death increases in the days, months, and years following a non-fatal overdose. However, we often don't treat addiction with the same urgency.

In California, where we work, the overdose epidemic has reached unprecedented levels, with 5,000 deaths attributed to opioid overdose in 2020. Nearly 75 percent of those deaths will be attributed to the increase of fentanyl in the drug supply. Notably, in 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic, the city of San Francisco recorded 537 overdose deaths and only 169 from COVID-19 in an eight-month period.

Definitive research has found that patients given the drug buprenorphine in the emergency department and followed up in primary care have a 74% chance of remaining in treatment after two months, compared to only about 50% after psychosocial intervention alone. No other facility is able to provide the year-round access and comprehensive services of an emergency department. Emergency departments are increasingly the go-to resource for vulnerable populations and have developed strategies to address social determinants of health through social workers and other liaisons, provide acute psychiatric stabilization, and offer case management in addition to same-day buprenorphine treatment for substance abusers. However, this life-saving, evidence-based MAT treatment is only now being widely offered in California, while the rest of the country lags behind. Providers, hospital systems, and state leaders in more than 30 states have sought advice from CA Bridge