Report: Up to half city's drug-treatment beds filled by residents from the rest of the state

A new report by the city and Blue Cross Blue Shield finds opiate addiction is spiking in Boston just like elsewhere in the state and says we're going to need more treatment beds and programs and soon.

Mayor Walsh said his new Office of Recovery Services, to be headed by Jennifer Tracey, will use the report as the starting point for bolstering services for people fighting substance abuse.

The report found that at any given time, half of the treatment beds in Boston are occupied by residents from other cities and towns.

Also:

The rate of unintentional heroin overdose encounters among Boston residents increased by 76% from FY 2010 to FY 2012, according to data reported by acute hospitals. The number of non-overdose opioid dependence and abuse hospital discharges in Boston increased by 13% from FY 2011 to FY 2012.7 Heroin-specific calls to Boston Emergency Medical Service (BEMS) increased 25% between January and mid-November 2013.

It continued:

Prevalence data on substance use and abuse are the best available indicators of the need for treatment and other services. Boston’s rate of substance abuse prevalence (11.3%), based on respondents’ indication of dependence or abuse of illicit drugs or alcohol in the past year, is roughly comparable to that of other regions within the state. Prevalence rates by region range from a high of 11.6% in Western MA to a low of 9.4% in the Metrowest region of the state.

Boston hospital emergency department (ED) and inpatient admissions for substance use disorder diagnoses also demonstrate the need for treatment programs. For example, close to 1 in 10 of all Boston hospital ED visits and 1 in 20 of all inpatient admissions in 2012 were related to substance use disorder.