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The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has proposed changes to a privacy rule that would make it easier for healthcare providers to know if a patient has a history of addiction. The rule requires patient consent to share substance use records created by federally-funded treatment programs. The new proposed rule aims to facilitate better coordination of care for substance use disorders, which will also enhance care for opioid use disorder. The change could help keep providers from unknowingly prescribing a potentially harmful drug, such as opioids, to a patient with a past substance use disorder. Under the proposal, law enforcement would still be prohibited from accessing substance abuse records. The proposal will be open for public comment for 60 days.
Children of incarcerated parents are six times more likely than other children to develop a substance use disorder as adults and nearly twice as likely to have diagnosable anxiety, according to new research from the Duke University Sanford School of Public Policy. With more than 2.7 million children experiencing a parent in jail or prison, understanding the long-term health and social implications of incarceration for children is critical. Researchers conclude that from a public health perspective, preventing parental incarceration could improve the well-being of children and young adults, as could aiding children and families once a parent figure has been incarcerated.
At a recent meeting of the Indiana Commission to Combat Drug Abuse, officials discussed an emerging shift in the drug epidemic. Though provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has shown an overall decrease in drug overdose deaths both in Indiana and at the national level, deaths caused by methamphetamine continue to be a problem. Indiana had more meth possession charges in the first seven months of 2019, than in all of 2016 combined. Representatives from the Indiana Department of Education, Family and Social Services Administration and Department of Corrections all presented how each administration is addressing the rise in meth.
With a nationwide prescription opioid lawsuit scheduled for trial in two months, attorneys for newborns suffering from exposure to opioids in the womb have made a last-ditch plea for special legal treatment for the infants and their guardians. The attorneys, from 20 firms that represent children across the country insist that a settlement or verdict must yield billions of dollars specifically earmarked for years-long monitoring of the physical and mental health of children born with neonatal abstinence syndrome. Without that guarantee cities and towns are likely to spend any money they receive from drug companies on more pressing and popular needs, as some states did with windfalls from the tobacco settlement two decades ago. This action comes just as a court in Oklahoma ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $572 million for its role in the opioid crisis, creating questions about its impact on similar suits filed across the country.
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