- The Nebraska Hospital Association's opioid reduction program lost federal funding, delaying a new initiative aimed at reducing opioid prescriptions for post-surgery patients.
- Despite the setback, the program was set to provide intensive follow-up care to reduce opioid exposure and prevent long-term addiction.
- 24 states, including Nebraska, have filed a lawsuit to challenge the funding cuts, with a judge temporarily halting the decision.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Tackling opioid addiction is a growing issue nationwide. Healthcare professionals are focused on preventing it before it starts, but with federal grant funding cuts, they are now searching for alternative solutions.
At the end of March, the Nebraska Hospital Association lost its federal funding for a 12-month opioid reduction program.
“It’s hard and it’s painful because we were launching a program that really hadn’t been launched, and a lot of times the grant funding that’s out there for opioids is to treat people who are already addicted,” said Margaret Woeppel of the Nebraska Hospital Association.
The NHA was about to launch a new program aimed at reducing opioid prescriptions for post-surgery patients.
“It required really intensive nurse-to-patient follow-up over a period of days and weeks, even after discharge, to make sure the patient was comfortable but we didn’t have to send home a prescription for several weeks of opioids,” said Woeppel.
Before funding was abruptly cut, they were working with 100 patients, with a goal of reaching 4,000.
“We’ve found that there are many reasons people get addicted to pain medications or opioids, but in the healthcare space, if we can decrease exposure to initial opioids or pain medications, that decreases their chances of having opioid addiction long-term,” Woeppel explained.
This week, 24 states filed a lawsuit against the federal government to challenge the termination of grants for programs like Nebraska’s opioid reduction initiative.
On Thursday, a judge issued a temporary injunction, halting the funding cuts.
In Omaha, I’m Melissa Wright.
