December 30, 2019

Rural communities have become the symbol of the opioid epidemic. Deaths from drug overdose are more common in rural areas than in urban areas, this is partially because rural communities have far less access to treatment and care for addiction than more populated regions. The burden of responding to the opioid epidemic has fallen upon rural primary care physicians. Both pain management and addiction treatment are specialties, calling for advanced training that many family physicians don't have. Rural family physicians are stepping in and working to reduce pain pill prescriptions, managing chronic pain patients taking opioids long-term, and addressing the addiction treatment gap.

Read the full article as it appeared in NPR, In Rural Areas without Pain or Addiction Specialists, Family Doctors Fill in the Gaps.