Earlier this year, the National Center for Health Statistics announced that in 2023, the estimated number of drug overdose deaths decreased for the first time since 2018 from 111,029 in 2022 to 107,543 in 2023. Mirroring the overall trend, overdose deaths involving opioids decreased from an estimated 84,181 in 2022 to 81,083 in 2023. However, medical care of patients who survive overdoses remains suboptimal. A cohort study of more than 130,000 Medicare beneficiaries who experienced a nonfatal drug overdose in 2020 found that although 88.8% received behavioral health services, only 4.2% were prescribed medications for opioid use disorder (OUD) and 6.2% filled a naloxone prescription during the following year. An analysis of 2022 data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health suggests that 3.7% of U.S. adults meet DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for OUD. Of this group, 55.2% received some form of OUD treatment, and 25.1% received medications for OUD. Another survey study highligh
