Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Deadly Delays: Insurance Denials, Wait Lists Erode Hope For Those Struggling With Addiction
Courtney Griffin was addicted to heroin and ready to get help. She packed up her things, and her mom drove her to a residential treatment facility about an hour from their home in New Hampshire. There was a bed waiting for her. But unfortunately, that's not where her story ends. Ninety minutes after they arrived, Pamela Griffin said, her daughter was back in the waiting room, shaking her head. Their health insurance company declined to cover the treatment. (Keith, 5/12)
The ravages of the state鈥檚 opioid epidemic are perhaps nowhere more visible than in an area of Boston known as 鈥淢ethadone Mile鈥 鈥 a one-mile stretch of Massachusetts Avenue in the shadow of Boston Medical Center. (Becker, 5/13)
Missourians working to reduce the impact of the opioid crisis are close to scoring one victory this legislative session: a measure expanding access to the opioid overdose antidote is on its way to the governor鈥檚 desk. But with one day left in the session, another tool many consider vital in the fight against opioids appears out of reach. Missouri is likely to remain the only state in the nation without a prescription drug monitoring database. (Phillips, 5/12)
As the death toll from fentanyl soars in Ohio, health officials are getting the word out about naloxone, a drug that saves people from life-sapping overdoses. (Johnson, 5/12)
Meanwhile, Stat profiles聽Dr. Richard Sackler, whose secret testimony on OxyContin's marketing could soon be made public聽鈥
A Kentucky judge鈥檚 order to unseal secret OxyContin records is putting the spotlight on a wealthy, publicity-averse doctor whose testimony about the marketing of the addictive pain pill is the most prized document in the court files. (Armstrong, 5/12)
And media outlets report on charges related聽to prescription聽pain killers聽鈥
A former doctor with offices in Louisville and southern Indiana has been sentenced to 100 months in prison for unlawfully distributing prescription drugs. Jamie Guerrero agreed to pay $827,000 in restitution to victims as part of a January plea agreement. U.S. District Judge Greg Stevens sentenced the former anesthesiologist on Thursday. (5/12)
Federal prosecutors allege three doctors at a now-defunct clinic in Philadelphia that specialized in helping drug addicts actually sold them $5 million worth of prescription drugs. According to a federal indictment released Wednesday, the doctors sold prescriptions for controlled substances to drug dealers and addicts for cash while performing little or no treatment as required by law. (5/12)
