In a new Midwestern trend, Minnesota health experts have joined in an attempt to reduce opioid overdoses — a problem the CDC says kills more in U.S. than car crashes.
The hospitals involved in this coalition are Essentia Health St Joseph's in Brainerd, Essentia Health Central Region, Cuyuna Regional Medical Center in Crosby, Mille Lacs Health System in Onamia and Lakewood Health System in Staples.
The collaboration was spurred by Minnesota's heroin epidemic. When CMOs from each of the hospitals met last week with law enforcement, the physicians described situations in which they were threatened by patients after not prescribing opioids. The physicians also spoke of patients who died due to opioid overdoses. In the recent past, there was also an influx of heroin addicted mothers who delivered babies that went into narcotic withdrawal.
New coordination between hospitals may help prevent illicit users of opioids from visiting hospital after hospital to "doctor shop" and bypass individual hospital's preventive measures for pain medication prescriptions. The sharing of electronic data allows physicians to know when a patient has more access opioids than his or her pain requires.
"It'll eliminate some of the problem, but it'll never eliminate all of the problem," said Sgt. Andy Galles with Crow Wing County Sheriff's Office, about the hospital coordination effort. "But, it is a good first step in at least combating the problem."
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