AHRQ News Now: support for HHS opioids awareness week; growing efforts to improve diagnosis; free Spanish-language publications

New Reports Highlight AHRQ’s Support for National Opioids Awareness Week

Two new AHRQ reports about the impact of opioids on seniors are part of the agency’s contributions to this week’s HHS Prescription Opioid and Heroin Epidemic Awareness Week. One report from AHRQ’s Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project shows that nearly 125,000 hospitalizations among older Americans involved opioid-related diagnoses in 2015. Another report from the agency’s Medical Expenditure Panel Survey indicates that, in 2015 and 2016, nearly 4 million seniors, on average, filled four or more opioid prescriptions.

AHRQ has joined the battle against opioids by developing an opioids Web page designed to increase access to evidence and support the work of policymakers, clinicians, researchers and others tackling the public health crisis. The resource includes:

• Statistical briefs that quantify trends in prescription opioid use and opioid-related hospitalizations and emergency department visits
• Clinical tools that provide guidance on team-based management of patients on chronic opioid therapy and integration of behavioral therapy in primary care
• Resources related to opioids research, including opioid-related journal publications; a summary of AHRQ projects developed to increase the use of medication-assisted treatment; and a new special emphasis notice that underscores the agency’s interest in receiving health services research grant applications aimed at finding solutions to the opioids crisis
• An opioids newsroom that links to opioid-related press releases, AHRQ Views blog posts and infographics

Access today’s press release on AHRQ’s new statistical briefs and a collection of infographics highlighting the impacts of opioids.

Opioids Newsroom

AHRQ’s blog posts, infographics, and announcements on its latest efforts to help end the opioid epidemic.

AHRQ provides an overview of its ongoing work on opioids with regular posts on the AHRQ Views blog. The Agency also announces new findings and initiatives with press releases and infographics that summarize AHRQ’s findings.

AHRQ Views Blogs

Date	Title
6/25/2018	Developing a Health Services Research Agenda To Combat the Opioid Crisis
6/19/2018	Shifting Focus: Non-Opioid Strategies For Chronic Pain
3/22/2018	Digging Into County-Level Hospital Statistics To Understand the Impact of Opioids
2/14/2018	AHRQ Stands Ready To Assist Secretary Azar in the Fight Against Opioid Epidemic
1/08/2018	AHRQ Intensifies the Battle Against Opioid Misuse in 2017, Commits to More Progress in 2018
10/31/2017	Joining the Battle Against Opioid Addiction in Rural Communities
8/23/2017	Providing a State-by-State Picture of the Nation's Opioids Crisis
6/20/2017	Shining a Spotlight on the Opioid Crisis Through the Power of Data

Press Releases

Date	Title
9/18/18	New AHRQ Reports Highlight Seniors’ Struggles with Opioids
3/1/2018	AHRQ Data Show Impact of Opioid Crisis at County Level
6/20/2017	New AHRQ Report Shows Sharp Rise Among Women for Opioid-Related Hospital Stays
12/15/2016	Opioid-Related Hospitalizations up 64 percent Nationwide Between 2005-2014; First State-by State Analysis Shows Wide Variations

Infographics

 

Opioids' Impact on Seniors
PDF version (790 KB)

More Babies Born Dependent on Opioids
PDF version (585 KB)

Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome Rates
Per 10,000 Births by Race/Ethnicity, 2015
PDF version (139 KB)

Women Have Higher Rates of Opioid-Related Hospitalizations in Most States
PDF version (414 KB)

Rates of Opioid-Related Hospital Stays: How States Compared in 2014
PDF version (336 KB)

Opioid Overuse on the Rise: More Widespread Across the United States
PDF version (551 KB)

 

Page last reviewed September 2018
Page originally created September 2018

Internet Citation: Opioids Newsroom. Content last reviewed September 2018. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/opioids/newsroom.html