An issue brief released this week by The Trust for America’s Health and Well Being Trust highlights actions that the health care system – including hospitals and health systems – can take to help address issues like drug overdoses, alcohol-related deaths and suicides. “Prioritizing prevention, working together, improving behavioral health services and engaging in responsible pain treatment and management practices, health care systems can help mitigate the devastating epidemic of drug overdoses, alcohol-related fatalities and suicides among the next generation of Americans,” the brief says. Among other resources, the brief highlights an AHA toolkit released in October that offers guidance and case examples to help hospitals and health systems work with their patients, clinicians and communities to tackle the opioid epidemic.

Related News Articles

Headline
An AHA blog published Sept. 16 highlights programs and practices by Boston Medical Center leaders and staff that support residents’ mental health, emotional…
Headline
Susan Doherty, AHA’s vice president of field engagement, and Rebecca Chickey, AHA’s senior director of behavioral health services, write on the unique ways…
Blog
This year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that over 49,000 people died by suicide in 2023, the latest year for which data was…
Headline
Corey Feist, CEO and co-founder of the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes Foundation, and Tiffany Lyttle, R.N., director of cultural integration at Centra Health, discuss…
Blog
Public
Medical residency is one of the most demanding stages in a physician’s career. Long hours, intense learning and new responsibilities often push trainees to…
Headline
A Gallup report published Sept. 9 found that nearly 48 million Americans currently have or are being treated for depression. The total, which equals 18.3% of…