You may recall that Van Jones, Patrick Kennedy and Newt Gingrich have started engaging in advocacy around the opioid epidemic. Here's what I said at the time: You may have heard that the unlikely crew of Newt Gingrich, Patrick Kennedy & Van Jones have taken interest in addressing the opioid crisis. More allies is a great … Continue reading Van Jones, Newt Gingrich and Patrick Kennedy opioid advocacy paid by drug maker

Yesterday, I posted about the Joint Commission's review of the unintended consequences of their emphasis on pain without the proper input, review and feedback systems. The opioid crisis that this has contributed to have been a disaster for families, communities and health care professionals who are trying to navigate the standards, untrustworthy standards of care, … Continue reading In case you were wondering how Pharma’s faring

JAMA just published an article on the history of the Joint Commission standards on pain and the lessons learned from the opioid crisis that followed. The article describes the impetus for the increased attention to pain. In 1990, Max2 decried the lack of improvement in pain assessment and treatment over the previous 20 years and … Continue reading the unintended consequences were, in retrospect, predictable

So . . . congress recently passed $1,000,000,000 to address the opioid crisis. Much of that money is expected to be spent on medication assisted treatment. Buprenorphine has been the most frequently touted form of medication assisted treatment. I've reviewed the research here and found that it does not live up to the hype. A … Continue reading New buprenorphine study – more disappointing outcomes

Ok this post is a little odd. I've spent a lot of years trying to understand the transmission/kindling of hope in others. A friend recommended the podcast, "Missing Richard Simmons." It's good! But, I'm not posting this to recommend it. There's a segment in the first episode with a person named Kathy whose life was affected … Continue reading The mechanics of hope

I've gotten several questions about yesterday's post on looming changes for publicly funded treatment in Michigan. These questions made me realize I probably needed to provide a little background. To be honest, I haven't followed it that closely and it's all a little confusing. Background Michigan is one of a shrinking number of states that … Continue reading Confused about the changes coming to publicly funded treatment in Michigan? Here’s the background.

If you haven't heard, there's been serious discussion about making major changes to publicly funded mental health and substance use disorders in Michigan. The current system carves out money for those services and give it to 10 regional entities that contract for and oversee Community Mental Health services and substance use disorder services. The question … Continue reading Changes coming to publicly funded treatment in Michigan

New rules have been released for 42 CFR part 2, the law that provides for confidentiality of addiction treatment records. The changes are intended to make information sharing between providers easier, though it's not clear how much this will actually help. The new rules can be found here. The federal press release can be found here. … Continue reading Updates to 42 CFR part 2

I'm taking some time off for the holidays and using it as an opportunity to catch up on a long neglected item on my to-do list. (It was a busy semester.) I've just now had a chance to seriously dig in to Jennifer Matesa's most recent book, Sex in Recovery: A Meeting Between the Covers. Sex … Continue reading Book review – Sex in Recovery: A Meeting Between the Covers

We've been working on a campaign to highlight businesses that hire people in recovery. We just completed what we hope will be the first of many video profiles. The Lunchroom is a special place. They serve great food. Really great food. They are a successful and growing business. And, 11 out of their 27 employees … Continue reading Recovery is Good Business – The Lunch Room