By Dr. Frederic Liss<\/p>\n
A new Pennsylvania law, Act 18 of 25, has taken an important step forward in the fight against the opioid epidemic across the state. The new state law now requires emergency medical services (EMS) providers to enter suspected overdose cases into a statewide tracking system, giving public\u2011health officials, first responders, and community partners a clearer, faster picture of where and how overdoses happen. <\/p>\n
For years, overdose maps in Pennsylvania have been built mostly from law\u2011enforcement reports. That meant thousands of encounters never showed up when police were not called, when families were afraid to involve law enforcement, or when a reversal with naloxone seemed to \u201cresolve\u201d the crisis in the moment. As a result, the true burden of opioid abuse was systematically undercounted, especially in rural and Appalachian communities where EMS is often the first and only touchpoint for care.<\/p>\n
Bringing EMS into the reporting system changes that. It captures nonfatal overdoses, repeated reversals at the same address, and hot spots where overdoses are rising long before death statistics catch up. Those nonfatal events are early-warning signals \u2013 the equivalent of smoke before the fire. They tell us where to direct outreach, naloxone, treatment slots, and education.<\/p>\n
At the Rothman Opioid Foundation, our work has demonstrated that data and education are two halves of the same solution. The opioid epidemic continues to be a formidable challenge in Pennsylvania, particularly in rural and Appalachian regions, with communities grappling daily with addiction and its devastating impacts. While access to treatments and emergency interventions like naloxone are essential for saving lives during overdoses, they do not address the root causes of opioid misuse. That is why the foundation has focused on educating frontline medical teams as a sustainable, long-term strategy.<\/p>\n
The Rothman Opioid Foundation has taken significant steps to improve healthcare providers\u2019 education, particularly for nurse practitioners and physician assistants, who are often at the forefront of patient care. These professionals play a crucial role in prescribing and managing opioid treatments, yet their training in opioid management has historically lagged behind that of physicians. <\/p>\n
To address this gap, the foundation developed a comprehensive curriculum\u2014eight online, evidence-based modules in pain management and opioid-sparing strategies\u2014offered free of charge, with support from the Appalachian Regional Commission and the Pennsylvania General Assembly. By equipping nurse practitioners and physician assistants with practical tools to manage pain responsibly, identify potential misuse early, and meet the DEA MATE Act training requirement, the foundation aims to reduce the risk of addiction before an overdose occurs.<\/p>\n
The new EMS reporting law complements this work. EMS data show in real time where overdoses are occurring; education shows how to change prescribing and care patterns that lead to those overdoses. Put simply, better reporting tells us where the fire is burning. Better training helps us stop lighting the match.<\/p>\n
The opioid crisis is no longer an abstract national statistic; it is woven into the daily work of EMS crews, firefighters, nurses, police officers, and recovery advocates across Pennsylvania. Requiring EMS to report overdoses does not solve the epidemic on its own, but it gives those professionals a stronger tool to understand the crisis.<\/p>\n
If Pennsylvania uses this new law to listen to the data and to the first responders and clinicians who generate it, the state can move from reacting to overdoses to anticipating and, ultimately, preventing them.<\/p>\n
Dr. Frederic Liss is a Board Member of the Rothman Institute Foundation for Opioid Research & Education (a 501c3 non-profit organization) and an Associate Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at Thomas Jefferson University.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Dr. Frederic Liss A new Pennsylvania law, Act 18 of 25, has taken an important step forward…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":116066,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[13188,11009,45887,55218,18191,55219,55220,28,30,29,55221,13255,38906],"class_list":{"0":"post-116065","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pennsylvania","8":"tag-drug","9":"tag-drugs","10":"tag-medication","11":"tag-opiates","12":"tag-opioid","13":"tag-oxycontin","14":"tag-painkiller","15":"tag-pennsylvania","16":"tag-pennsylvania-headlines","17":"tag-pennsylvania-news","18":"tag-percocet","19":"tag-pharmacy","20":"tag-prescription"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}