Douglas Huntsinger, deputy director for drug prevention, treatment and enforcement, will take over. The state said Huntsinger has been overseeing operational aspects of the state’s response to the drug crisis since 2017.
The biggest driver of the cost over the four-year period is unrealized lifetime earnings of those who died from the drugs, followed by health care costs.
Capitol Village Healthcare, a 52-bed nursing home at 2926 N. Capitol Ave., closed earlier this year, and had received low ratings from U.S. News and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Prescriptions of the overdose-reversing drug naloxone are soaring, and experts say that could be a reason overdose deaths have stopped rising for the first time in nearly three decades.
The crisis has been years in the making, and the job of wrestling it to the ground has grown into a massive task. No one is yet predicting when the state will be able to declare victory.
Visits to emergency rooms in Indiana for drug overdoses are falling, and doctors are writing fewer prescriptions for opioid painkillers, Jim McClelland said Friday.
The Indianapolis medical-software firm recently raised $10 million in venture funding and is launching two major products in one month.
Overdose deaths in Indiana rose 18 percent last year compared with 2016 and 37 percent over 2015. A vast majority of the overdoses were caused by opioids.
As Marion County appears poised to launch a similar syringe-exchange program, public health officials point to a growing list of reports and studies they say proves such programs are a worthwhile investment.
The fact naloxone is a prescription drug creates a hurdle for addicts and their families. In addition, many pharmacies and local health departments don’t stock it, and not everyone can afford it.
The number of prescriptions for opioid painkillers filled in the United States fell dramatically last year, showing their biggest drop in 25 years.
About 80 percent of Indiana employers have been affected by prescription drug misuse and abuse, including opioid painkillers, in their workplaces, according to a survey by the National Safety Council.