The New York Times (5/10, Hoffman) reports, “Despite the continuing rise in opioid overdose deaths, one of the most effective treatments for opioid addiction is still drastically underprescribed in the United States, especially for Black patients, according to a large new study.”

MedPage Today (5/10, DePeau-Wilson) reports, “Black and Hispanic patients with a disability had a tougher time getting medication to treat opioid use disorder (OUD) despite frequent contact with healthcare” professionals, investigators concluded after analyzing “Medicare claims data.” The study revealed that “within 180 days of an index OUD-related event, Black patients received a prescription for buprenorphine 12.7% of the time, Hispanic patients 18.7% of the time, and white patients 23.3% of the time.” Likewise, “naloxone receipt followed a similar pattern, occurring after 14.4%, 20.7%, and 22.9% of index events, respectively, the authors reported” in the findings of a 23,370-beneficiary study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

Healio (5/9, VanDewater) reports, “Rates of suicidal behavior and ideation increased among high school girls,” investigators from the CDC concluded after analyzing “data from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey…collected in 2019 and 2021.” The study revealed that “the percentage of girls reporting past-year suicidal ideation increased from 24.1% in 2019 to 30% in 2021,” with “increases in the percentage of girls who made a suicide plan (19.9% vs. 23.6%) and attempted suicide (11% vs. 13.3%).” In contrast, “the percentage of boys reporting suicidal ideation stayed about the same (13.3% vs. 14.3%), as did the percentage of boys who planned a suicide (11.3% vs. 11.6%), attempted suicide (both 6.6%) and had a suicide attempt requiring medical attention (both 1.7%).” The findings were published online in an April 28 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report Supplement.

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— “Suicidality increased in certain high schoolers from 2019 to 2021 “Kalie VanDewater, Healio , May 9, 2023

The Washington Post (5/9, Ovalle, Beard) reports that the DEA “will allow doctors to keep using telemedicine to prescribe certain medications for anxiety, pain and opioid addiction, extending for six months emergency flexibilities established during the coronavirus pandemic.” As such, “the ability to prescribe controlled medications will run through Nov. 11, 2023…and that deadline will be longer still if doctors have already established a telemedicine relationship with patients.” In the latter “circumstance, physicians can keep prescribing the medications virtually through Nov. 11, 2024.”

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— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

According to The Hill (5/8, Scully), Congressional legislators “are calling for extensive data on maternal mental health programs to examine their effectiveness, following an alarming spike in the country’s maternal mortality rate.” In their May 8 letter (PDF) “to the Health Resources and Services Administration led by Maternity Care Caucus co-chairs Reps. Young Kim (R-Calif.) and Robin Kelly (D-Ill.), lawmakers requested data on the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline one year after the program started.” Additionally, they “requested data on the Screening and Treatment for Maternal Depression and Related Behavioral Health Disorders…program overseen by the Health Resources & Services Administration,” calling for “qualitative and quantitative data on the two programs.”

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— “Lawmakers ask for data on maternal mental health program’s effectiveness “Rachel Scully, The Hill , May 8, 2023

The AP (5/8, Johnson) reports, “For the first time, the U.S. government will pay for a large study measuring whether overdoses can be prevented by so-called safe injection sites, places where people can use heroin and other illegal drugs and be revived if they” overdose. This “grant provides more than $5 million over four years to New York University and Brown University to study two sites in New York City and one opening next year in Providence, Rhode Island.” Investigators now “hope to enroll 1,000 adult drug users to study the sites’ effects on overdoses, to estimate their costs and to gauge potential savings for the health care and criminal justice systems.”

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— “US backs study of safe injection sites, overdose prevention “Carla K. Johnson , AP , May 8, 2023