How Community Leaders are Combating the Opioid Crisis with Prevention
Recently, John Greenwood (COO and Co-founder of Goldfinch Health) was joined by two community leaders for a discussion about fresh approaches to prevention in the face of America’s Opioid Crisis.
Commissioner Andria Herr of Seminole County, Florida, and Commissioner Mary Ann Borgeson of Douglas County, Nebraska, are leading the charge to adopt these approaches in their communities and beyond. Commissioner Borgeson, motivated by alarming overdose statistics in her community, has advocated strongly for opioid prevention. Douglas County’s partnership with Goldfinch Health—which supports Douglas County employees and their families—represents a significant push towards realigning community and healthcare professional priorities towards prevention.
Similarly, Commissioner Herr’s personal experience with the tragic fallout of opioid addiction fuels her commitment to this mission. Commissioner Herr’s advocacy for integrating preventive measures into healthcare plans underscores the critical role that insurance and employee benefit solutions play in addressing this epidemic.
Goldfinch Health’s mission is the Billion Pill Pledge—a vision of a future in which there are 1 billion fewer unnecessary leftover opioid pills after surgery. This is good for the patient, who has better-treated pain with less risk of long-term opioid use. And this is good for the community, with fewer leftover pills in medicine cabinets available for dangerous diversion.
The Billion Pill Pledge mission is achievable in an evidence-based and sustainable way by ensuring patients have access to Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) protocols. Clinical research around the globe has repeatedly demonstrated over the last two decades that patients who receive a more proactive and “multimodal” approach to pain treatment around surgery are:
- More satisfied with their healthcare
- More likely to recover with fewer complications
- Less likely to become a long-term user of opioids
- Less likely to experience unnecessarily expensive hospital readmissions
By prioritizing prevention and collaborating with local community and employee benefits leaders, Goldfinch Health is helping to effectively reshape the perception and practice of acute pain management. This paves the way for a future in which opioid dependency is no longer a consequence of surgery.
For the full discussion, click here.