Posts Tagged: post-surgery

Deadly opioid overdose epidemic overshadowed by COVID-19

Illustration: Hydrocodone pills and prescription bottles. (Image: Andy Dean Photography, via Shutterstock.)

by RANDAL PHAM posted 05.04.2021

OPINION: A record 3,200 Californians lost their lives to opioids in 2019 — well before the stress and disruption caused by COVID-19 caused overdose deaths to spike to new highs nationwide. By May 2020, powerful synthetic opioids such as fentanyl caused California’s 12-month all-drug overdose death rate to spike nearly 27%, significantly faster than the national average.

Improving outpatient care is a necessity

A hospital's outpatient services unit. (Photo: Mark Winfrey, via Shutterstock)

by DEBORAH MILLER posted 03.15.2019

In his state budget proposal, Gov. Gavin Newsom made it clear that health care is a top priority for the Golden State – allocating the largest component of total state-funding to the California Department of Health Care Services (53.5% of the budget, or roughly $34.7 billion).