Gov. Charlie Baker and 42 other governors agreed on a number of steps — including some already underway in Massachusetts — to reduce addiction to opioids across the country.
The National Governors Association compact calls for governors to require medical training on addiction, integrate data from prescription monitoring programs into electronic health records, and craft the Medicaid insurance program so it promotes alternative pain management, according to a State House News report. Signatories agreed to “change the nation’s understanding of opioids and addiction.”
That could include through public information campaigns on social media, ensuring a “pathway to recovery” for those struggling with drug addiction, and increasing access to the overdose-reversing drug naloxone, the report said. Baker said last June that the state’s recent opioid law would help to establish a “national model” for tackling opioid addiction.
“Bringing governors together around core strategies to end the opioid epidemic adds momentum behind state efforts and sends a clear signal to opioid prescribers and others whose leadership is critical to saving lives,” Baker said in a statement.
Baker, 42 other governors, sign compact to fight opioid addiction
Nicolaus Czarnecki/Metro
