How the president classifies the opioid epidemic matter doesn't matter as much as attention to it and dedication to responding it, said Frank James, MD, JD, of American Society of Addiction Medicine.
How the president classifies the opioid epidemic matter doesn't matter as much as attention to it and dedication to responding it, said Frank James, MD, JD, of American Society of Addiction Medicine.
Transcript (slightly modified)
The president has declined to declare the opioid epidemic in the country a national emergency, instead calling it a public health emergency. What is the difference in response efforts to the epidemic?
I think that it doesn’t really matter what we call it because calling it something isn’t going to solve the problem. It’s really a matter of now we know it’s a problem, people are dying of it every day, and that we have to address it. So, it’s more important what we do about it, how we approach treatments, how we measure outcomes, how we ensure that people are getting the right care at the right time—regardless of what we want to call it.
How is the way the healthcare industry is responding to the opioid epidemic changing as the situation continues to grow?
The industry’s realizing that addiction medicine is a specialty and that opiate addiction is a chronic disease. We can’t treat that as we treated other addictions—it’s a disease in of itself.
So, recognizing that first, now the industry can then look at what’s the research, what’s the data, what are the outcomes we want to achieve in treating opiate addiction. Then we look at the research to see what is the evidence based treatment that we need to bring to our members, to our patients, and to the industry to make sure that people are getting the right treatment, at the right time, and at the right place; that’s evidence based, that’s based on data and research.
Looking Back on ISPOR 2024: Hot Policy Topics, Welcome Focus on Employers, and More
May 10th 2024Kimberly Westrich, MA, chief strategy officer of the National Pharmaceutical Council, reflects on the most valuable learnings from the 2024 meeting of ISPOR—The Professional Society for Health Economics and Outcomes Research, including lively discussions of the Inflation Reduction Act and workshops on value assessment.
Read More
The Importance of Examining and Preventing Atrial Fibrillation
August 29th 2023At this year’s American Society for Preventive Cardiology Congress on CVD Prevention, Emelia J. Benjamin, MD, ScM, delivered the Honorary Fellow Award Lecture, “The Imperative to Focus on the Prevention of Atrial Fibrillation,” as the recipient of this year’s Honorary Fellow of the American Society for Preventive Cardiology award.
Listen
Posters Characterize DMD Caregiver Experiences, Impact of Gene Therapy on Caregiving Demands
May 10th 2024Posters presented at the ISPOR—The Professional Society for Health Economics and Outcomes Research meeting explored Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) caregiver experiences and gene therapy’s impact on work opportunities for caregivers.
Read More
Promoting Equity in Public Health: Policy, Investment, and Community Engagement Solutions
June 28th 2022On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we speak with Georges C. Benjamin, MD, executive director of the American Public Health Association, on the core takeaways of his keynote session at AHIP 2022 on public health policy and other solutions to promote equitable health and well-being.
Listen
Budesonide-Based Triple Therapy Shows Best Benefit Over Dual Therapy for COPD
May 8th 2024The triple therapy of budesonide, glycopyrrolate, and formoterol fumarate showed the greatest incremental net benefit among a series of triple therapy medications that were evaluated against dual therapy for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), according to an analysis presented at ISPOR.
Read More