- Illinois: Since last summer, Cook County Jail in Chicago, the largest single-site jail in the United States, has trained roughly 900 inmates on how to use the overdose-reversing drug naloxone and has given 400 at-risk inmates a naloxone nasal spray device upon their release. The goal of the program, officials said, is to curb overdose fatalities among former inmates who have misused drugs and help saturate the community with naloxone (Babwin, AP/Sacramento Bee, 7/29).
- New Mexico: Presbyterian Healthcare Services has tapped Roger Larsen to serve as CFO and SVP. In the role, Larsen will supervise the financial management and performance of the health system. Larsen has previously served as CFO for Sutter Health's Bay Area Foundation in Sacramento, as well as East Bay Hospitals in northern California (Haefner, Becker's Hospital Review, 7/28).
- Utah: Intermountain Healthcare has announced that it will be the first health care system in the United States to draw blood without needles from patients who already have an IV in place. Instead, the health system will be using a needle-free technology called PIVO, a single-use, disposable device that connects to an exterior IV catheter to extract a blood sample—sparing the patient repeated needle sticks for blood draws and reducing providers' exposure to needles (Al Idrus, FierceBiotech, 7/28; Monegain, Healthcare IT News, 7/28).
Reduce opioid misuse and abuse with our new report
Opioid misuse and abuse is one of the most pressing public health issues in the U.S., and hospitals and health systems are on the front lines. Currently, most health systems focus their opioid management efforts on select medical specialties.
This report outlines three imperatives to guide hospitals and health systems in their efforts to reduce the impact of inappropriate opioid prescribing and misuse.