AMA adds new tools to combat opioids

The American Medical Association (AMA) adopted new policies this week at its annual meeting to reverse the country's opioid epidemic. The new policies encourage physicians to co-prescribe naloxone to patients at risk of an overdose; promote timely and appropriate access to non-opioid and non-pharmacologic treatments for pain; and support efforts to delink payments to health care facilities with patient satisfaction scores relating to the evaluation and management of pain.

"The AMA and our nation's physicians have demonstrated our commitment to ending this epidemic," said Dr. Patrice A. Harris, chair-elect of the AMA and chair of the AMA Task Force to Reduce Opioid Abuse. "These new policies build on the work of our task force, which has made clear that physicians must take a leading role in reversing the tide of this epidemic."