Our commitment in solving Michigan’s opioid epidemic

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the state of Michigan is facing an opioid overdose epidemic.

Drug overdose is the leading cause of accidental death in the United States, killing more people than guns or car accidents. Opioids were involved in nearly 50,000 U.S. deaths last year, including nearly 2,000 in Michigan.

Opioid dependency is a non-discriminatory, physical dependency that can quickly rob a person of their ability to live a healthy life. What may begin as pain relief from knee surgery or wisdom tooth extraction, can end in the tragedy of death from an overdose.

In an effort to help our members get healthy and stay healthy, Priority Health launched an opioid management strategy. Our goal is to reduce our members’ opioid use by 25 percent over three years. We’re working on multiple levels to remove opioids from circulation, decrease the number of opioids prescribed to members, increase the availability of revival or rescue medicines (to prevent death from overdose), and improve and promote access to care management and behavioral health services.