The Prescriptive Opioid Emergency in the Wake of COVID-19

The Prescriptive Opioid Emergency in the Wake of COVID-19 - D e e p i n d e r

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A global pandemic does not abate other public health emergencies. As the nation is focused on the COVID-19 pandemic, the opioid epidemic remains in full force. Recently, the American Medical Association (AMA) released an issue brief, which they expressed concern on an increase in opioid-related mortality. National, State, and local leaders are quickly following suit with their own advisories. With resources stretched and national attention focused on the pandemic, State and Local Leaders need to look for solutions that can stem the tide of this disease. Leveraging key analytics from Prescriptive Drugs Monitoring Programs (PDMP) along with new guidance on from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) can provide law enforcement, mental health professionals, and physicians more flexibility in fighting the fight against prescriptive opioid abuse during the pandemic.

OPIOID ABUSE IN THE WAKE OF COVID-19 The opioid epidemic is one of the largest crises’ to impact the public health sector in national history as it is. In the last five years alone, fatalities related to opioids have increased by more than 20%, with approximately 130 deaths per day in the United States. And, the numbers have steadily continued to rise until just before the pandemic outbreak. The nation-wide public health crisis of opioid addiction saw a substantial increase over the last few decades; contributing to nearly 450,000 overdose-related deaths from 1999-2018. The trend in deaths related to opioid overdose was on the rise until 2018, with 47,000 deaths; six times the amount in 1999 (CDC)

As COVID-19 has spread across the United States, addiction doctors have feared that the stress, isolation, and financial hardship the pandemic has left in its wake would wreak particular devastation on the roughly halfmillion Americans with opioid addiction. To underline this fear, Well Being Trust, a public health group, projected that 75,000 Americans would die from suicide and overdose as a result of the pandemic. Richard Jorgensen, MD, and DuPage County coroner recently announced, “In the past three weeks, we have had 20 overdose deaths, mainly due to opioids… we do not know if this is due to a change in the makeup of the drugs, drug usage on the streets, or due to current COVID-19-related changes in society”. Dr. Jorgensen has a right to raise awareness, the Illinois Department of Health recorded 315 opioid-related deaths in the county and over 303 overdoses reported in DuPage hospital emergency departments in 2020.

These warnings are not isolated to the Midwest. In Shelby County, Tennessee, 391 suspected overdoses were reported to have occurred between April 7 and May 7, resulting in 58 deaths (AMA, COVID-19 Worsening the Opioid Crises). Other surges have been reported in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, and Franklin County, Ohio. Franklin Counties coroner released a similar statement, “As you may have seen, Friday night to Saturday night our county saw 28 nonfatal overdoses—this is a high number for our county,” Anahi Ortiz, MD, posted May 3 on Facebook.

“COVID-19 has shown us the vulnerabilities and deficiencies in our addiction services—in addition, it has increased the mental health needs of this population”.

Outside of isolation, the logistics of addiction treatment have also become more complicated. Issues related to reduced hours of operations for many treatment facilities to unemployment and the connected loss of medical insurance have long sparked concerns that requests for opioid prescriptions and resultant overdoses would spike. Specifically, doctors have argued that the new (post-COVID-19) protocols for telehealth and medication delivery services could result in a sweeping expansion of illicit opioid prescriptions. Additionally, the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime warns of an additional threat: an increase in the use of prescriptive opioids due to providers transitioning to new COVID-19 protocols have resulted in actual drug shortages due to the rate of consumption and limits on pharmaceutical production due to supply chain issues and corporate shutdowns. A shortage in supply has led to the consumption of other harmful, domestically produced substances and an increase in injecting drug use and the sharing of injecting equipment. All of which carry the risk of spreading diseases like HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C, and COVID-19 itself.

PRESCRIPTIVE OPIOID ANALYTICS Many Local and State agencies have difficulty in integrating data that may be relevant to stemming the tide of illegal opioid prescriptions. This drawback limits lead generation for law enforcement and regulatory bodies and prevents executives from reviewing integrated analytics on Schedule-II to schedule-V narcotics within their jurisdiction. Artificial Intelligence (AI), automated data deconfliction, and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) can help by providing key stakeholders with the tools they need to stem the tide of prescriptive opioid abuse.

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