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Beacon Health Options Provides Needed Relief for Those Caught in Twin Pandemics of Opioid Use Disorder and COVID-19
January 21, 2021 GMT
BOSTON (BUSINESS WIRE) Jan 21, 2021
COVID-19 has had a tremendous impact on the U.S. economy, our healthcare system and individuals across our nation. Yet, there is another issue that is affecting Massachusetts, and much of the country; and while it is not currently garnering the headlines it used to it is exacerbated by the COVID outbreak – the opioid epidemic.
The crisis of increasing opioid use disorder (OUD) shows no sign of abating in Massachusetts. Preliminary data indicates that during the first nine months of 2020, there were 1,517 confirmed and estimated opioid related overdose deaths – more deaths than the first nine months of 2019. While Massachusetts providers wrote 35.3 opioid prescriptions for every 100 persons, this was among the lo