The Pennsylvania Healthcare Cost Containment Council has released a study of overdose statistics, showing an overall 2.2 percent decrease in hospital admissions for prescribed opiates but a 12.7 percent increase in admissions for heroin overdoses between 2016 and 2017. Overdoses for the period studied accounted for more than 13,500 hospital days across the commonwealth.
The statistics are broken down per county. Indiana Regional MEdical Center reported twenty overdose admissions in 2017, up from fourteen the year before.
In 2017, opioid overdose admissions amounted to an estimated $32 million in payments. Heroin admissions added up to an estimated $16.4 million. Pain medication admissions totaled an estimated $15.6 million.
