The Opioid Crisis and Naloxone Pharmacy Access

Patients taking opioid dosages at or above 50 MME/day are twice as likely to overdose compared to those taking 20 MME/day, and the risk further increases as the MME/day increases.

More than 34 million people in the United States were living in food insecure households in 2021, a decline from 38 million in 2020. The combination of the expanded child tax credit, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, and private donations all contributed to reducing food insecurity during the pandemic. Still there is much more work to be done, with food costs spiking 11.4%, the largest annual increase since 1979, inflation factors could easily cause food insecurity to grow.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced discussions about social determinants of health (SDOH) back into the forefront of healthcare discussions. Knowing that 80% of a person’s health outcomes are impacted by these external factors – economic, social, community, education, and more – we, as industry leaders, must shift these discussions about SDOH implementation from a lofty goal into a reality. How do we get there?

Patients taking opioid dosages at or above 50 MME/day are twice as likely to overdose compared to those taking 20 MME/day, and the risk further increases as the MME/day increases.

Recent federal legislative and regulatory updates in managed care pharmacy have prioritized topics ranging from expedited access to novel therapeutics to the health disparities and equity concerns affecting patient populations nationwide, but progress on these developments will depend on the impact of the midterm elections