Healthcare efforts for the “invisible” with opioid problems must improve.

Despite the fact that the majority of those who die from opioid overdoses have been in contact with healthcare, social services, or the justice system, a new analysis shows that a large group – nearly half – lacks significant care connections related to their drug problems. To strengthen preventive efforts against overdoses, a change in care is needed, where low-threshold interventions are complemented with broader screening and less stigmatizing forms of care to reach this hard-to-reach group.