Keeping doses of opioid pain medications to their lowest effective levels – not costly reformulations that make the pills harder to crush and snort – may be more effective overall in curbing abuse of the powerful painkillers, says Tyson Thompson, PharmD, of UMass Medical School’s Clinical Pharmacy Services.
How UMass Medical School is helping MassHealth, the Massachusetts Medicaid program, promote more rational use of opioids is highlighted in a Specialty Pharmacy Continuum article on managed care efforts to address the nationwide addiction crisis.
Amid a nationwide opioid addiction crisis, payers must look well beyond simply containing costs and work closely with doctors who are prescribing these powerful pain medications, says Tyson Thompson, PharmD, a clinical consultant pharmacist at UMass Medical School.
States could wind up dealing with “massive” damage if there are deep cuts in federal health funding that helps pay for opioid addiction treatment, UMass Medical School’s Tyson Thompson, PharmD, tells Managed Healthcare Executive. Thompson and Kimberly Lenz, PharmD, clinical pharmacy manager in UMass Medical School's Office of Clinical Affairs, discussed the most pressing issues surrounding opioid use and misuse with Managed Healthcare Executive for the story, “14 things Trump needs to know about opioids.”
As Massachusetts confronts an opioid abuse and misuse crisis, Maria Garcia, MD, MPH, associate professor of medicine, says clinicians need to assist patients addicted to the powerful drugs by supporting both their physical and mental health needs.
Opioid addiction can be treated successfully with medication, and state policies should reflect the scientific evidence that supports those findings, UMass Medical School’s Robin Clark, PhD, writes in an op-ed for CommonWealth Magazine.
Opioids are very effective for acute pain resulting from an injury or surgery, but they should not be used to treat chronic pain, a UMass Medical School opioids expert tells Worcester Business Journal’s Health quarterly.
Clinical pharmacists from UMass Medical School’s Commonwealth Medicine division will discuss trends in pediatric behavioral health medication and the pharmacist’s role in responding to the Massachusetts opioid epidemic at MCPHS University’s Pharmaceutical Care Days Dec.5 and 6 at the Worcester campus.
A UMass Medical School clinical pharmacy manager will discuss the nation’s opioid epidemic, Massachusetts’ response and how pharmacists can play a role at MCPHS University’s sixth annual Stoklosa Symposium Oct. 22 at the Holiday Inn in Peabody.
Paul L. Jeffrey, PharmD, a pharmacy director in UMass Medical School’s Commonwealth Medicine division, is the 2015 recipient of the Massachusetts Pharmacists Association (MPhA) Bowl of Hygeia Award.