Tag: Tennessee

Tennessee Overdose Rates Hit Five-Year High

The increase in overdose deaths comes despite the fact that prescriptions for opioids have been drastically reduced in the state.

Fatal drug overdose rates in Tennessee reached a five-year high in 2018, despite efforts in the state to drastically cut down on opioid prescribing.

Data released by the Tennessee Department of Health showed that 1,818 people died of drug overdoses in the state last year, Fox17 Nashville reported. That gives the state an overall overdose rate of 27.4 per 100,000 deaths. Opioids accounted for 19.9 per 100,000.

The increase in overdose deaths comes despite the fact that prescriptions for opioids have been drastically reduced in the state, from 622,083 in 2014 to 440,473 last year.

Multiple Overdose Waves Have Hit The State In 2019

Still, officials in Tennessee are dealing with an ongoing crisis on the ground. In August, officials in one county reported 16 overdoses within 24 hours. Five of those overdoses were fatal. In May, Memphis police reported that they had responded to 12 overdoses in 24 hours, with seven deaths in seven days throughout Shelby County.

Police Col. Paul Wright said that synthetic opioids were to blame for the deaths.

“If you use drugs that are laced with fentanyl, if you use fentanyl, you will die,” he said.

He urged people not to use drugs alone, and reminded them that they could call for help without fearing repercussions if they were concerned about someone overdosing.

He said, “We’re not about picking up a user. If you are a user, don’t be scared to call for assistance.”

Wright also urged users and their loved ones to carry opioid overdose reversal drugs.

“If you have a family member, or you are a user, of opioids, you need to get trained on Narcan,” he said.

National Overdose Rate Is Declining

Overdose data from 2018 is just beginning to be released, and national data is not yet available. Yet, preliminary data has indicated that the national overdose rate fell about 5% last year, the first time in decades that there has been a decrease in fatal overdoses.

“It looks like there’s a light at the end of the tunnel,” said Dr. Andrew Kolodny, an opioid researcher, told The New York Times.

The progress has been uneven across the country, however. While some areas, like Tennessee, have reported increased overdose rates, others are seeing some progress in the fight against opioid addiction.

In New York City, for example, fatal overdoses dropped 2.6% from 2017 to 2018. That left officialls cautiously optimistic.

“The decrease in drug overdose deaths is promising, but far too many New Yorkers are still dying” New York Health Commissioner Dr. Oxiris Barbot said, according to NBC News.

Pennsylvania had an impressive 18% decrease in fatal overdoses during 2018. Officials credit increased access to treatment and widespread availability of naloxone for reducing the overdose death rate and the overall overdose rate.

View the original article at thefix.com

26 October 2019
Nurse Prescribed Patient 51 Pills Per Day, Kept License

The nurse practitioner was the ninth most heavy-handed opioid prescriber in Tennessee.

Forty opioid pills, four muscle relaxers, six Xanax and an Ambien in a day would likely do more harm than good for even the sickest of patients, but that’s the amount that a Tennessee nurse prescribed a patient eight years ago, exceeding today’s opioid recommendations by more than 31 times.

And yet, the nurse is still licensed to prescribe today.

Christina Collins, a nurse practitioner near Knoxville, was the ninth most heavy-handed opioid prescriber in Tennessee, and officials now say that she must have known that her patients were not taking the pills as she prescribed them.

“In short, Mrs. Collins was a machine that dispensed prescriptions without regard for any professional responsibility,” Mary Katherine Bratton, a Tennessee Health Department attorney, wrote in state documents analyzed by The Tennessean. “Her own lawyers argued that Mrs. Collins engaged in patient-led prescribing, simply giving patients whatever dangerous drugs they requested.”

Last year, officials attempted to have Collins’ license revoked, but the state nursing board opted to instead put her on professional probation, which means she can still write prescriptions. She still works as a nurse in the Knoxville area.

However, the state’s health department and attorney general are now appealing that decision in a move that a spokesperson called “rare but not unprecedented.”

Collins and her lawyer claim that despite doing things like telling one patient to wear three fentanyl patches at once in addition to taking other medications, Collins thought she was giving good medical advice at the time the prescriptions were written.

“She became a victim of her environment and the medical community and the ideas that were floating around out there at that time period,” said Eric Vinsant, her lawyer. “This case stretches from 2011 and 2012, which was a time before Tennessee really began looking at the prescribing of opioids and other controlled substances for pain, and there was really a very limited amount of guidance for practitioners on what was expected and what were best practices.”

Vinsant added that there was “no real evidence” that Collins’ pills were resold on the black market.

During a hearing with the nursing board last year, Collins said that she left the clinic she was with at the time when she became suspicious that Dr. Frank McNiel, who ran the clinic, was overprescribing. McNiel surrendered his medical license.

“When I initially started there … obviously I did not think that there was anything below the standard of care or anything wrong with the patients or the prescriptions they were taking,” Collins said, according to a transcript of the hearing. “If I were looking at doses like that in today’s time after the guidelines and everything that I’ve learned, yeah, I would think that was very high amounts.”

View the original article at thefix.com

16 October 2018
Tennessee’s Mental Health Courts Strained By Budget Cuts, Demand Increase

The state ranks 35th in the nation when it comes to investing in mental health support.

A new report by the Tennessean features the work of Tennessee’s mental health courts.

These courts divert non-violent offenders living with mental health issues to services instead of jail, but they’re now struggling to handle the increasing caseload amid a lack of funding.

“You want to get them out of jail so they stay out,” said Judge Melissa Blackburn, who presides over Davidson County’s mental health court. “I don’t want them back.”

Artist Charles Chesney, who lives with bipolar disorder, is featured in the Tennessean for his experience in Davidson County’s mental health court. Chesney’s bouts of mania have gotten him in trouble with the law.

After one particular manic episode at his mother’s home, Chesney was arrested, but instead of ending up in jail, he went before the mental health court. Now, he is on probation and lives in a therapeutic halfway house, according to the Tennessean. He is also required to receive counseling, attend a 12-step program, and work.

Chesney said this court-mandated structure has given him a sense of stability that he did not have before.

But according to the publication, Chesney is among the lucky few who are able to go through the mental health court and find housing. The state’s mental health courts have struggled amid budget cuts, after reductions to the state’s TennCare program in 2005.

“As soon as TennCare went away, the numbers skyrocketed,” said retired Judge Dan Eisenstein. “Mental health court wasn’t set up to handle the numbers we were seeing.”

The controversial program was designed to cover the costs of prescription medications, psychiatric visits, inpatient care and provide transportation for people without access to private health insurance, according to the Tennessean.

Instead, people like Chesney are enrolled in the Behavioral Health Safety Net program, which pays for Chesney’s psychiatric medication.

While at least a third of people in Nashville jails live with a mental health issue, according to Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall, the state is lagging behind the national average when it comes to investing in mental health support.

According to the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors Research Institute, Tennessee’s mental health spending is well below the national average of $119.62 per capita, ranking it 35th in the United States.

View the original article at thefix.com

31 July 2018
Tougher Laws, Stricter Prescription Limits For Opioids In Tennessee

The state’s TN Together opioid plan is a multi-faceted initiative with three areas of focus: prevention, treatment, and law enforcement.

In Tennessee, Governor Bill Haslam has put together a new plan to fight the opioid epidemic, called TN Together.

New laws just passed in Tennessee include policies from Governor Haslam’s plan, intended to both decrease access to opioids and to incentivize treatment for those suffering from dependence, according to WSMV News.

Beginning July 1, the laws include Henry’s Law, created by the family of Henry Granju, a teenage boy who died in east Tennessee from an opioid overdose.

Henry’s Law requires that a person convicted of second-degree murder resulting from unlawful distribution of Schedule I or II drugs where the victim is a minor be punished from within one range higher than they would normally be charged. Henry’s Law creates tougher laws for people convicted of second-degree murder by distributing drugs to minors.

Henry’s mother, Katie Granju, told The Fix, “I’m a harm reduction supporter who also believes that drug-induced homicide prosecutions are vital in addressing the opioid epidemic.”

Katie Granju’s son Henry was being supplied opioids at age 18 by adult dealers before his fatal overdose.

Tennessee will begin limiting a first opioid prescription to a five-day supply with daily dosage limits of 40 MME.

Exceptions will be made for major surgical procedures, cancer and hospice treatment, as well as treatment in certain licensed facilities.

The TN Together plan also intends to provide every Tennessee state trooper with naloxone for the emergency treatment of opioid overdose.

The Tennessee Municipal League states that the TN Together plan is a multi-faceted initiative with three areas of focus: prevention, treatment, and law enforcement. Haslam said the initiative will include legislation, executive actions, and task forces.

The $37.5 billion Tennessee state budget sets aside more than $16 million to fight the opioid epidemic through additional services.

On June 29, Haslam tweeted about the bill, “My final bill signing ceremony today was an important one: the @TNTogether legislation is critical to fighting the opioid crisis in Tennessee. Thank you to the many partners across the state who will work together through this initiative to address opioid abuse.”

According to The TN Municipal League, the number of opioid-related overdose deaths in the U.S. has quadrupled since 1999; Tennessee remains one of the top 15 of all states in drug overdose deaths.

Tennesseans are more likely to die of an opioid-related overdose than in a vehicle crash. Three people die of overdose in Tennessee each day.

“It is an epidemic. It has reached this state,” Brian Sullivan with Addiction Campuses in Nashville told WSMN News. “We believe this is a step in the right direction.”

View the original article at thefix.com

6 July 2018