As many are aware of, there is an ongoing opioid crisis that is currently happening in the United States right now. Research shows that many overdoses and deaths are caused by opioid addiction and it is only increasing over time. However, new data from the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association has put forward the idea that addiction rates are finally plateauing and has stopped increasing.
Dropped in opioid cases
According to the data they have compiled from medical claims information, which came from Blue Cross affiliates found across the United States, diagnoses of opioid addiction have fortunately dropped down to 5.9 per 1,000 per patients from 6.2 from the years 2016 to 2017. Moreover, they were also able to conclude that the efforts in trying to curb overprescribing opioids from doctors are having good results— opioid prescriptions have dropped down by 30% from the years 2013 to 2017. Since over-prescription of opioids for certain illnesses or injuries can cause the abusive use of the drug(s), this way, fewer people are able to obtain opioids, therefore, less become addicted to it. With this data, they were able to conclude that this kind of decline, or any sort of decline, was the first in eight years. However, this does not mean the crisis is over and overdose deaths are going to stop.
Despite of this good news, it only proves and makes it evident that the United States still has a long way to go when it comes to overcoming the ongoing opioid crisis. But as many are doing more research, advance medicines coming out, people becoming more aware and knowledgeable about the topic, as well as more good and effective treatments, this epidemic can be combated one step at a time.
A new study
“New data from the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association suggests opioid addiction rates are finally plateauing. But that doesn’t necessarily mean overdose deaths will drop anytime soon. It’s a sobering reminder of just how long it might take America to get through the ongoing crisis.
The big finding from the BCBSA data, which compiles medical claims information from the various Blue Cross affiliates across the United States: Diagnoses of opioid use disorder (addiction, in other words) declined from 2016 to 2017, from 6.2 per 1,000 patients to 5.9.
It was the first decline BCBSA had measured in eight years, since it started tracking opioid use disorder diagnoses. It also comports with other national data sets we’ve seen recently. ”The data from BCBS is certainly good news and promising,” Eleanor Artigiani, the deputy director for policy at the University of Maryland’s Center for Substance Abuse Research, told me.
The Blue Cross data indicated that efforts to curb overprescribing are having the desired effect: Opioid prescriptions have dropped by nearly 30 percent from 2013 to 2017. Two-thirds of opioid prescriptions filled in 2017 were within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommended guidelines.”
Read the rest of the report here.