In 2021, drug-related overdose deaths topped 107,000.1 Despite a nearly 50% decrease in opioid prescribing over the past decade, drug overdose mortality continues to trend in the opposite direction.2 In particular, drug-related deaths have disproportionately impacted Black, American Indian, Native Alaskan Americans and young people.
The staggering data drives home the need for evidence-based policy and leadership to reduce drug-related overdoses. The American Medical Association (AMA) and Manatt Health released a national policy roadmap in December 2020 with detailed recommendations for policymakers. In 2022, the AMA and Manatt launched a more comprehensive state toolkit that identified specific laws, regulations and other initiatives that demonstrated success. Now, in a new webinar, we highlight leading physicians, other health care professionals and advocates taking action across the six areas that were the focus of our reports:
- Increasing access to evidence-based treatments to help patients with a substance use disorder (SUD)
- Ensuring access to addiction medicine, psychiatry and other trained physicians
- Improving access to multidisciplinary, multimodal care for patients with pain
- Enforcing mental health and SUD parity laws
- Expanding harm reduction efforts to reduce death and disease
- Enhancing public health data surveillance, monitoring and evaluation
Moderators:
- Joel Ario, Managing Director, Manatt Health
- Daniel Blaney-Koen, Senior Legislative Attorney, AMA
Panelists:
- Patrice A. Harris, MD, MA, former AMA President; Chair, AMA Substance Use and Pain Care Task Force
- Bobby Mukkamala, MD, Immediate Past Chair, AMA Board of Trustees; Chair, AMA Substance Use and Pain Care Task Force
Date and Time:
Monday, December 12
1 https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/drug-overdose-data.htm
2 IQVIA Xponent limited to retail pharmacy dispensed prescriptions.
If you would like to receive an audio transcript of this webinar due to accessibility issues, please email us at webinars@manatt.com.
This program does not constitute legal advice, nor does it establish an attorney-client relationship. Views expressed by presenters are strictly their own and should not be construed to be the views of Manatt or attributed to Manatt.