A bill that would funnel
millions of dollars into a wide range of services from medication-assisted treatment for substance use disorders, to vouchers for mental health care in rural areas, to screening for mood and anxiety issues for some new mothers passed in the Colorado Senate on Tuesday and now heads over the House for consideration.
“Even before the pandemic, we knew that we were not meeting mental health needs and addiction needs throughout the state,” Sen. Faith Winter, a Democrat and one of the sponsors of the Behavioral Health Recovery Act, said Monday. “And we know that the second curve of responding to the pandemic is coming. And that second curve is responding to our mental health needs after we’ve collectively gone through this pandemic and also addressing the addiction crisis we’re seeing in this state.”
Hospitals give out doses of antidote to fight opioid crisis
The project already has 47 hospitals committed to dispensing the overdose antidote to at-risk patients as they are discharged from the emergency department. Author: Associated Press Updated: 9:54 AM CDT May 8, 2021
When doctors write a prescription for the life-saving antidote to an opioid overdose, patients only bother to fill them about 5% of the time.
But what if hospital physicians simply handed a vial of naloxone to the patients they worry are most likely to die, particularly those who were just rushed to the emergency room after overdosing on fentanyl, prescription opioids or heroin?