The New York Times (8/21, Yin, Subscription Publication) reports there were “nearly 1.3 million hospitalizations involving opioids…in the United States in 2014,” representing “a 64 percent increase in inpatient stays and a doubling” in opioid-related emergency room visits since 2005, according to data “published this year” by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
The article extensively quotes senior AHRQ researcher Dr. Anne Elixhauser, who said the data “cover all areas, all age groups, male and female. And it’s only getting worse in the time frame we’re looking at here.” The article adds that online data managed by AHRQ “show that most inpatient stays involving opioids over the last decade were among patients covered by Medicaid, closely followed by Medicare patients.”
Related Links:
— “Hospitals Are Clogged With Patients Struggling With Opioids,” STEPH YIN, New York Times, August 21, 2017.