Tuscaloosa, Alabama, a big small city an hour west of Birmingham. It is home to the University of Alabama and their Crimson Tide football team. This town has Jesus and it has football. Depending on the season, the shouts of “Roll tide!” ring out louder than the bible-thumping “Amens!”
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From Altruism to Capitalism: Value-Based Care for Opioids
Last month, Louisiana received a $24-million federal grant to combat the opioid epidemic[i]. This was welcome news after a budget that would have cut $648 million of state funds directed at hospitals, nursing homes, and residency programs was nearly approved. Nationwide, the federal government plans to spend nearly $5 billion dollars[ii] to combat the epidemic. While the figure is staggering, it pales in comparison to the detrimental impact opioid addiction has on the country’s economy.
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Café con Narcan
A recent headline in the New York Times described chaos in a park in New Haven as dozens of people used a batch of synthetic marijuana (“K2”) and overdosed on fentanyl. As horrific as this scene is to imagine, it is not difficult for anyone who has spent time in a hospital emergency room, or, increasingly, in any public space. EMTs on the scene used the opioid-reversal agent Narcan to prevent anyone from dying in this mass overdose. It could have been worse.
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God’s Punishment
Many still remember the words – “GRID”, “God’s punishment for immorality”, “gay plague” – that were commonplace in the United States during the 1980’s and 1990’s, a time when stigma against people living with HIV was rampant. Thousands in the gay community were ostracized, left to fight alone during one of the most devastating infectious outbreaks of the century. Many suffered and died while the country rationalized the epidemic as something that people brought upon themselves, deprioritizing research and public health measures that could have saved lives.
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Dr. Feelgood
Pop some popcorn for this spellbinding movie produced by my friends Dr. Alison Block and Dr. Tim Poore! This short documentary tells the roller-coaster ride of Dr. William Hurwitz, a maverick opioid prescriber who at one point was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Even after finishing the film, I’m still left wondering whether Hurwitz was highly delusional or deviously strategic.
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