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New CDC Guidelines Seen as Boost for Chiropractic Care

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Sponsored News - Now what?

That’s the question chronic pain sufferers are asking following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s release of the first-ever national guidelines designed to curb the alarming increase in prescription drug deaths.

A record high 47,055 overdose deaths were recorded in 2014, according to the latest statistics, which is 6.5% percent higher than the previous year. 61% of those deaths (28,647) were due to prescription pain killers, which is 14% higher than in 2013! And the government’s response advising doctors not to prescribe the potentially addictive pills in most situations for chronic pain couldn’t have been plainer.

“It has become increasingly clear that opioids carry substantial risk but only uncertain benefits especially compared with other treatments for chronic pain,” CDC Director Dr. Thomas R. Frieden told reporters in March.

The one catch? Right now it’s purely voluntary whether doctors used to prescribing the likes of OxyContin stop or not. So if, for example, you’re concerned about overdosing and experiencing musculoskeletal conditions including low back and neck pain, many experts say it’s time to consider an  alternative like chiropractic care.

Even before the CDC acted, drug-free chiropractic care was being touted as the go-to first option over both prescription pills and surgery as a result of research showing it yielded improved patient outcomes, higher satisfaction, and lower costs. “It’s heartening to see the growing opioid epidemic is finally gaining the attention it deserves,” said Sherry McAllister, DC, executive vice president of the not-for-profit Foundation for Chiropractic Progress, noting that doctors of chiropractic have a minimum seven years of higher education and provide care and rehabilitation on issues ranging from musculoskeletal pain to headaches to general health concerns.

Learn more at F4CP.com.

CDC Budget Initiative - 2016

Drug Overdose Prevention (+$53.6 million) [Bookmarks→Overview of Budget Request→Initiatives→Drug Overdose Prevention]

Drug overdose deaths have skyrocketed in the past decade, largely because of prescription opioids. Prescription Drug Overdose (PDO) death rates quadrupled since 1999, claiming more than 16,000 lives in 2013 alone. Overdose deaths are only part of the problem—for each death involving prescription opioids, hundreds of people abuse or misuse these drugs. Emergency department visits for prescription painkiller abuse or misuse have doubled in the past few years to nearly half a million. Prescription opioid-related overdoses cost an estimated $20 billion in medical and work-loss costs each year. Stemming this epidemic is essential to CDC’s goal of preventing the leading causes of disease, disability, and death. Equally important is the need to address the alarming rise in overdose death from illicit drugs such as heroin.

In FY 2016, CDC will build on state PDO prevention activities initiated in FY 2014–2015, including the PDO Prevention for States program to be launched in FY 2015. The FY 2016 budget request includes $5.6 million to support CDC’s efforts to address the troubling rise in overdose deaths from illicit opioids such as heroin. An additional increase of $48.0 million above the $20.0 million provided in FY 2015 will enable CDC to expand the PDO Prevention for States program to fund all 50 states and Washington, D.C. for a truly comprehensive response to the national epidemic. CDC funding will scale up existing state Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) programs to improve clinical decision-making and to inform implementation of insurance innovations and evaluation of state-level policies. In addition, the increased investment will support rigorous monitoring and evaluation, and improvements in data quality, with an emphasis on delivering real-time mortality surveillance. CDC also will scale up activities to improve patient safety by bringing together health systems and health departments to develop and track pain management and opioid prescribing quality measures in states with the highest prescribing rates.