How medtech could stop the drug overdose crisis in the U.S.

[Image from The.Comedian on Flickr]The opioid epidemic is one of the deadliest problems facing the U.S. today. Through the development of new pain management devices, medtech could be a leader in solving the crisis. The prescription opioid overdose crisis in America didn’t start until the late 1990s, when pharmaceutical companies touted prescription painkillers that weren’t supposed to be addictive. As a result, medical professionals more frequently prescribed opioid painkillers. Since then, opioid-related deaths have seen a steady increase. From 2000 to 2014, nearly half a million Americans died from a drug overdose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 50,000 people died from a drug overdose in 2015. Of those deaths, 33,000 were opioid-related. The Council of Economic Advisers reports that the opioid crisis had an economic cost of $504 billion in 2015, and prescription opioid misuse increased healthcare and substance abuse treatment costs by $29.4 billion. Get the full story on our sister site, Medical Design & Outsourcing. The post How medtech could stop the drug overdose crisis in the U.S. appeared first on MassDevice.
Source: Mass Device - Category: Medical Devices Authors: Tags: Hospital Care mHealth (Mobile Health) Pain Management Patient Monitoring Avancen Halyard Health MedTech Myoscience nevro opioid crisis Regenesis Biomedical Inc. Source Type: news