VIDEO – POLICIES MATTER! –

Jan. 5, 2023 – “What we need to see happen is continued physician prescribing of naloxone, but also removing the barriers physicians, emergency departments and harm-reduction organizations have to putting this lifesaving medicine into people’s hands,” Dr. Mukkamala said.

He added, however, that naloxone is only one piece of a multifaceted solution, and that—while it saves lives in acute situations—preventing those acute situations is critical to moving the nation in the right direction.

Dr. Mukkamala cited the work of emergency and addiction medicine physician Don Stader, MD, who led the Colorado Naloxone Project, which has established naloxone education and distribution programs at more than 100 hospitals in the state.

Regarding removing the stigma that is unfairly placed on patients in pain, he cited the work of Rita Agarwal, MD, Edwin C. Chapman, MD, and Cara Sedney, MD, who were profiled in the report and featured in an AMA Advocacy Insights webinar last year.

The use of telehealth by Lewei Allison Lin, MD, an addiction psychiatrist at the University of Michigan Addiction Center and the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System, to manage patients’ conditions was also cited in the webinar.

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