Harrisburg, PA - Acting Secretary of Health and Physician General Dr. Rachel Levine today spoke about the Wolf Administration’s efforts to combat the opioid epidemic during a live webinar to health care professionals from the American College of Medical Quality (ACMQ).
“Governor Wolf understands that working with medical professionals is essential to curbing the rates of addiction in the commonwealth,” Dr. Levine said. “Sharing our department’s outreach efforts with the medical community helps us to better collaborate and protect every Pennsylvanian.”
The Wolf Administration holds the fight against heroin and prescription opioids as a top priority. To continue the battle against the opioid epidemic in Pennsylvania, the 2017-18 budget includes the following to specifically fight the heroin and opioid crisis:
- $5 million for access of naloxone for first responders
- $2 million for expansion to specialty drug courts
- $26.5 million in federal funding from the 21st Century Cures Act
To date, the Wolf Administration has:
- Developed more than 45 treatment centers that will treat more than 11,000 individuals with substance use disorder.
- Expanded Medicaid to more Pennsylvanians, which now covers substance use disorder care for over 125,000 more Pennsylvanians.
- Secured a $26.5 million federal grant to support prevention, treatment, and recovery services to battle the opioid epidemic.
- Grew the number of drug-take back boxes to 665 and destroyed more than 300,000 pounds of drugs.
- Equipped law enforcement, first responders, and schools with the overdose-reversing antidote naloxone, reversing nearly 4,000 heroin and opioid overdoses since 2014.
- Strengthened the use of the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program, which enables health care providers to safely prescribe controlled substances to their patients. More than 90,000 practitioners conduct more than 1.1 million searches each month.
ACMQ is an organization of health care professionals responsible for providing leadership in quality and safety outcomes. To find out more about their efforts to help medical professionals get the tools they need to better serve patients everywhere, visit http://acmq.org/.
If you or someone you know is suffering from the disease of addiction, call 1-800-662-HELP or visit www.pa.gov/opioids for treatment options. For more information on the fight against opioid abuse in Pennsylvania, visit the Department of Health website at www.health.pa.gov or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
MEDIA CONTACT: April Hutcheson, 717-787-1783 or ra-dhpressoffice@pa.gov
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