New government data shows hospitals flooded with overdose visits

The national opioid epidemic is swamping hospitals, showing 1.27 million emergency room visits or inpatient stays for opioid-related issues in a single year, according to new government data (Source: “In just one year, nearly 1.3 million Americans needed hospital care for opioid-related issues,” Washington Post, June 20, 2017).

According to the report, released by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), in 2014, the latest year available for every state and the District of Columbia, there was a 64 percent increase for inpatient care and a 99 percent jump for emergency room treatment compared to figures from 2005. Their trajectory likely will keep climbing if the epidemic continues unabated.

The sharpest increase in hospitalizations and emergency room treatment for opioids was among people ages 25 to 44, a phenomenon seen in every racial and ethnic group other than Asian Americans.

The top 10 states with the highest rate of opioid-related hospital admissions in 2014 were, in addition to Maryland and Massachusetts: Rhode Island, New York, West Virginia, Connecticut, Washington, Oregon, Illinois and Maine. The 10 states with the lowest rate of inpatient stays that year were: Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, Texas, Kansas, Georgia, South Dakota, Arkansas, South Carolina and Hawaii.