AMA: Physicians must be part of the solution to opioid epidemic

The American Medical Association and physicians must take a leadership role in reducing deaths from opioid overdoses, said the group's chair-elect Patrice Harris, M.D., at Tuesday's National Rx Drug Abuse & Heroin Summit. "The AMA's vision for ending this epidemic starts with a focus on what physicians can do in their practices and in their communities," she said. Efforts are working, she said, with opioid prescriptions decreasing 6.8 percent nationally from 2014 to 2015. Physicians are participating in safe opioid prescribing education efforts targeted to their state and specialty, prescribing naloxone to at-risk patients to prevent overdose deaths and registering with their state Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs. Announcement