Integrating overdose prevention & naloxone into existing healthcare delivery infrastructure
Watch a free 60-minute webinar that includes incorporating overdose prevention into medical practice
Pain Medicine & Palliative Care:
Pain patients receive increasingly complex pharmaceutical regimens that may be concurrently managed by multiple health care providers. In addition to screening tools for misuse or substance use disorder, drug testing, and treatment agreements, consider prescribing naloxone for any patient that meets the suggested inclusion criteria for a naloxone rescue kit. Check out Project Lazarus’ innovative community based pilot project to prevent overdose among pain patients. Universal application of the inclusion criteria is a way to explain to patients who may not believe themselves to be at risk for accidental overdose.
Emergency Medicine:
Several emergency departments (EDs) have implemented a policy that patients presenting with opioid poisoning should receive an overdose prevention kit upon discharge. EDs that operate Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) programs have also incorporated overdose education and naloxone rescue kits as a brief intervention, which may be billable service in pilot EDs. CLICK HERE for an SBIRT guidance document, including information on billing. According to the SASSI Institute, major insurers covering screening and brief intervention include the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program (Whyche, 2008) and the following private plans: Aetna (nationwide), CIGNA (nationwide), Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield (Colorado, Connecticut, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Maine, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, Virginia, and Wisconsin), Blue Cross of California, Blue Cross-Blue Shield in Georgia, Blue Cross-Blue Shield of Minnesota, Empire Blue Cross-Blue Shield in New York, and Independence Blue Cross HealthPlus (Michigan).
Substance Use Disorder Treatment:
Substance use disorder treatment clinicians are in a position to provide overdose prevention and naloxone rescue kits to a uniquely vulnerable patient population – the newly abstinent who may resume use. If patients do not resume substance use, they will not be at risk for accidental overdose themselves, but they will interact with others in their social network who are at high risk. CLICK HERE for a study of providing naloxone rescue kits to people in treatment for a substance use disorder. CLICK HERE for a brief overview of barriers and strategies for enacting overdose prevention and naloxone rescue kits in substance abuse treatment environments.