Moving from Policy to Action: Fighting the Nation’s Drug Overdose and Death Epidemic

In 2021, drug-related overdose deaths topped 107,000.1 Despite a nearly 50% decrease in opioid prescribing over the past decade, drug overdose mortality continues to trend in the opposite direction.2 In particular, drug-related deaths have disproportionately impacted Black, American Indian, Native Alaskan Americans and young people.

The staggering data drives home the need for evidence-based policy and leadership to reduce drug-related overdoses. The American Medical Association (AMA) and Manatt Health released a national policy roadmap in December 2020 with detailed recommendations for policymakers. In 2022, the AMA and Manatt launched a more comprehensive state toolkit that identified specific laws, regulations and other initiatives that demonstrated success. Now, in a new webinar, we highlight leading physicians, other health care professionals and advocates taking action across the six areas that were the focus of our reports:

  • Increasing access to evidence-based treatments to help patients with a substance use disorder (SUD)
  • Ensuring access to addiction medicine, psychiatry and other trained physicians
  • Improving access to multidisciplinary, multimodal care for patients with pain
  • Enforcing mental health and SUD parity laws
  • Expanding harm reduction efforts to reduce death and disease
  • Enhancing public health data surveillance, monitoring and evaluation

Moderators:

  • Joel Ario, Managing Director, Manatt Health
  • Daniel Blaney-Koen, Senior Legislative Attorney, AMA

Panelists:

  • Patrice A. Harris, MD, MA, former AMA President; Chair, AMA Substance Use and Pain Care Task Force
  • Bobby Mukkamala, MD, Immediate Past Chair, AMA Board of Trustees; Chair, AMA Substance Use and Pain Care Task Force

Date and Time:

Monday, December 12


1 https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/drug-overdose-data.htm

2 IQVIA Xponent limited to retail pharmacy dispensed prescriptions.


If you would like to receive an audio transcript of this webinar due to accessibility issues, please email us at webinars@manatt.com.

This program does not constitute legal advice, nor does it establish an attorney-client relationship. Views expressed by presenters are strictly their own and should not be construed to be the views of Manatt or attributed to Manatt.

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