In late March, the Nebraska Hospital Association (NHA) was notified that federal funding for their 12-month opioid reduction program had been terminated immediately. The NHA had been awarded the funding, through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA), as part of an American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) block grant. The NHA was currently partnering with hospitals across the state on a program intended to decrease the amount of opioid-type medication prescribed to Nebraskans.
“The opioid epidemic has touched every corner of our country,” said Jeremy Nordquist, President of the Nebraska Hospital Association. “No community, urban or rural, is immune to its impact. It is a present threat, demanding our collective attention and action. Through this program, we were going to significantly reduce the risk of opioid dependency for thousands of Nebraskans.”
According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the current opioid epidemic is one of the most severe public health crises in US history. Responding to it has proven difficult. However, programs like the one being implemented by the NHA have seen success.
Nebraska hospitals continue to prioritize effective post-operative pain management, and are committed to utilizing a multimodal approach, emphasizing non-opioid strategies such as non-narcotic medications, regional nerve blocks, and environmental controls like positioning and thermal therapies. When opioids are clinically necessary, established protocols aim for short-term use, typically limited to a few days. These strategies are designed to facilitate patients safe and timely return to daily activities, while minimizing unnecessary opioid exposure.
“Nebraska hospitals are committed to helping solve the opioid epidemic and the NHA will do our best to continue supporting this important patient safety work. We hope the federal government will look to the future and prioritize programs that will provide much needed solutions to this epidemic,” said Nordquist.
This week, 24 states filed a suit against the federal administration to challenge its cancellation of federal grants to states, like the grant supporting the opioid reduction program in Nebraska. On Thursday afternoon, a federal judge temporarily blocked the rescission of the grant funds, and the case remains active.