Opioid Crisis Hits Home: Uncle’s Overdose Spurs Medicaid Official To Change Course
Andrey Ostrovsky, who until last month was chief medical officer for Medicaid, quit his job so he could more directly fight the stigma of drug addiction.
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Andrey Ostrovsky, who until last month was chief medical officer for Medicaid, quit his job so he could more directly fight the stigma of drug addiction.
Health care professionals increasingly collaborate with anti-abuse advocates to identify victims and ensure they get the help they need. One women’s center is opening a shelter on the campus of a large public hospital in Los Angeles.
Philadelphia officials gave the OK to establishing safe-injection sites for drug users. But it's unclear where the sites would be located and who would fund and operate them.
At a panel discussion this week in Sacramento, patients, caregivers and others shared their perspectives on how Alzheimer’s disease affects women, who account for two-thirds of those living with the condition.
"We really do have a lot of responsibility and culpability," says one hospital official who is part of a working group trying to address the opioid epidemic. Patients have to expect more pain after surgery and understand the risk of addiction, says another doctor.
Few bonds are as tight as those between sisters. But when one has paranoid schizophrenia, the relationship grows complicated.
Even though voters in Maine decided to expand Medicaid through a ballot measure, the law's fate is still unclear. Gov. Paul LePage says the Legislature must find funds for it without raising taxes. Advocates say the law is on their side and expansion must be implemented.
Vietnam veterans’ wartime experiences — and their lasting psychological toll — can make it harder to treat their physical and emotional pain as they approach death.
Laws in California and most other states allow pharmacists to provide naloxone to patients or their friends without a doctor’s prescription. But many don’t do so, citing lack of demand and awareness among patients, their own fears of insufficient compensation and the challenges of treating opioid users.
Fire almost destroyed one of two acute care facilities in Ventura County — wiping out most of the region’s inpatient capacity. In California and nationally, such hospitals are strained by demand — and disasters.
Arizona is one of a few states that have declared the opioid epidemic a public health emergency. There's no uniformity in what that means from state to state, though, and even within Arizona, there's a wide divergence of opinion on how best to tackle the problem.
One Indiana addiction specialist doesn't shy away from telemedicine, but he still requires in-person visits to begin and maintain his patients' Suboxone prescriptions.
SuperAgers, men and women over age 80 with extraordinary memories, share a commitment to sustaining friendships.
Seniors are living longer and defying predictions of cognitive and functional decline. Wellness coaches guide them in setting goals for the year — whether physical, social, inÂtellectual or spiritual.
Behavioral care was four times more likely to be out-of-network than medical or surgical care, an analysis by Milliman shows.
Following minor surgery, KHN’s consumer columnist sees how easily doctors offer pain pills, fueling epidemic of opioid addiction.
A complex set of psychological and social factors are now propelling women to break their silence about sexual harassment.
Doctors and pharmacists in Northern California are emulating drug company sales reps with a fresh purpose in mind: They visit medical offices in the hardest-hit counties to change their peers' prescribing habits and curtail the use of painkillers.
Far from a commune or coop, these planned villages are no less about cooperation and community.
New data show transgender people are more likely to have suicidal thoughts and to attempt suicide. Public hostility toward them, including efforts to ban them from public bathrooms and military service, is making things worse, researchers say.
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