Listen on Spotify

Despite significant changes at the federal and state level, the rate of opioid prescriptions remains startlingly high. The most recent data shows that Tennessee is still hovering around 60 prescriptions for every 100 people in the state. And again, that’s prescriptions, not pills. As such, many patients are still facing the same on-ramp to opioid medications that got them stuck in the opioid crisis in the first place. 

My guests this month are Brand Newland and Michael Doty of Goldfinch Health, Melissa Armstead of Southern Tennessee Health System and Kathy Federico of Lifepoint Health. In 2024, Goldfinch received a grant to implement a primary prevention program focused on non-opioid pain treatment in surgical settings, and they partnered with a hospital in Lawrenceburg, TN, located in the rural, south central portion of our state. 

The early success of the Billion Pill Pledge in Lawrenceburg genuinely surprised me. I worked in rural emergency departments (ED) from 2014–2018, during the rise of fentanyl. I know first-hand how significant it is to dramatically reduce visits to the ED for pain control. 

In this conversation, we talk about the program, how it works, how it rolled out in Lawrenceburg and what the future of non-opioid pain treatment may look like, at both the clinical, the scientific and the policy levels. 

Learn more: 

• Goldfinch Health: The Billion Pill Pledge 
• Southern Tennessee Regional Health System, Lawrenceburg
• Lifepoint Health