Centerstone Joins the Opioid Safety Alliance

Centerstone joins health IT coalition in launching a first-of-its-kind Opioid Safety Alliance to advance technology-enabled solutions to the opioid crisis.

health IT now, a broad-based coalition of patient groups, provider organizations, employers, and payers supporting health information technology to improve patient outcomes is the first-of-its-kind working group, comprised of Health IT Now (HITN) members and non-members alike, is dedicated to advancing technology-enabled solutions to combat the scourge of opioid misuse.

The launch of HITN’s Opioid Safety Alliance comes at a time when drug overdoses have now claimed more livesin a single year than car crashes, gun violence, and the HIV/AIDS epidemic at their respective peaks. The threat of opioid misuse has received heightened attention on Capitol Hill, including the 2016 passage of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act and last year’s public health emergency declaration from the White House. However, until now, there lacked a unified, multi-stakeholder advocacy effort from the health IT community to drive solutions that prevent abuse while promoting legitimate access to needed medications.

Leading member organizations of the Opioid Safety Alliance include the Association of Behavioral Health and Wellness, Brain Injury Association of America, Centerstone, Chapman University School of Pharmacy, CoverMyMeds, eRx Network, IBM, Intermountain Healthcare, McKesson, National Alliance on Mental Illness, the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs, Netsmart, Oracle, RelayHealth, and Walgreens. Health IT Now’s existing membership list can be found here.

The working group will begin its advocacy efforts immediately, including providing testimony at the Food & Drug Administration’s January 30th meeting of the Opioid Policy Steering Committee.

Read more on the initiative.