Azar Unveils Plan to Help Pregnant Patients Quit Opioids (MedPage Today)

Tuesday Oct 23rd, 2018

States will get help from the federal government integrating services for pregnant and postpartum Medicaid patients with opioid use disorder under a pilot program announced Tuesday by Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar.

"The M-O-M model, for 'Maternal Opioid Misuse,' will partner with state Medicaid agencies to integrate a wide range of services for pregnant and postpartum women struggling with opioid misuse, to ensure not only their health, well-being, and recovery, but protect the health of their children as well," Azar said at a conference here sponsored by the Milken Institute of Santa Monica, California, a think tank that specializes in social issues.

Not everyone is happy with the administration's efforts so far, however. Public Citizen noted in a press release Tuesday that then-Baltimore Health Commissioner Leana Wen, MD, asked the Trump administration in May to authorize generic competition for opioid overdose antidotes such as naloxone (Narcan and Evzio); Narcan currently sells for $37.50 in the U.S. compared to $0.15 in India.

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The number of Baltimore children with lead poisoning fell 19 percent in 2017, even as more children were tested for exposure to the powerful neurotoxin.

Statewide, the number of Maryland children found to have elevated levels of lead in their blood held steady even as the number of children tested increased by 10 percent, according to a Maryland Department of the Environment report released Tuesday.

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Trump declared an emergency over opioids. A new report finds it led to very little. (Vox)

To much fanfare last year, President Donald Trump ordered his administration to declare a public health emergency over the opioid epidemic. “As Americans, we cannot allow this to continue,” Trump said at the time. “It is time to liberate our communities from this scourge of drug addiction.”

When I’ve asked experts about these approaches, it’s not that any of them are bad. It’s that they fall short. For instance, Leana Wen, the former health commissioner of Baltimore (and soon-to-be president of Planned Parenthood), said that the Support for Patients and Communities Act “is simply tinkering around the edges.”

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Dr. Leana Wen Is Leaving BCHD to Lead Planned Parenthood (WYPR)

As a patient advocate and an emergency physician, Dr. Wen has led the Baltimore City Health Department since January 2015. She has devoted her career to expanding access to health care for low income communities, reducing health disparities, and finding innovative solutions to some of the most challenging public health problems today, from opioid abuse and teen pregnancy to the epidemic of gun violence.

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