As a busy trauma surgeon, Dr. Phillip Chang saw his fair share of patients who were dealing with significant pain. As per the standards then, these patients would receive opioids for pain management. Most recovered and were weaned off the medication as planned.
America’s Essential Hospitals, a national trade association, has recognized UK HealthCare for its work to develop safer opioid usage practices within an academic health system.
Jennifer Havens has spent the past decade studying the transmission of infectious disease and advocating for the expansion of harm reduction programs. That work entails understanding the link between two health burdens facing the nation, the opioid crisis and cancer.
In 2017, Dr. Linda Dwoskin applied to NIDA's Grand Opportunity for Medications Development program for support to continue her quest to develop the first-ever medication to reduce craving and relapse in methamphetamine use disorder.
To assist the state’s hospitals in the battle against Opioid abuse, the Kentucky Hospital Association is partnering with the Cabinet for Health and Family Services as part of the Kentucky Opioid Response Effort to launch the Kentucky Statewide Opioid Stewardship (KY SOS) program.
The challenge we face is too complex for one approach or one solution. It changes shape and form too often for us not to partner in ways that make us more efficient and effective, but also nimble and capable of adapting as the challenge does.
Nearly a decade ago, it was a small conference about an issue only starting to come out of the shadows of stigma and shame – the growing epidemic of opioid addiction and substance abuse disorder.
As the chair of the department, Dr. Roger Humphries has implemented policies and programs to help address the needs of the 350 to 400 patients they see per day who are affected by complications related to opioid use disorder.
When the Kentucky Cabinet for Family and Health Services put out a call for ideas to improve access to evidence-based treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD), Drs. Laura Fanucchi, Michelle Lofwall and Sharon Walsh submitted a proposal.
The four-year, more than $87 million study has an ambitious but profoundly important goal: reducing opioid overdose deaths by 40 percent in 16 counties that represent more than a third of Kentucky’s population.
