Effect of Hurricane Sandy on Health Care Services Utilization Under Medicaid.

Objective: This investigation assessed changes in utilization of inpatient, outpatient, emergency department, and pharmacy services in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in 8 counties in New York affected by the storm.

Methods: Medicaid data for enrollees residing in 8 counties in New York were used to obtain aggregated daily counts of claims for 4 service types over immediate, 3-month, and 1-year periods following the storm. Negative binomial regression was used to compare service utilization in the storm year with the 2 prior years, within areas differentially affected by the storm.

Poisoning deaths involving opioid analgesics - New York State, 2003-2012.

Deaths involving opioid analgesics have increased dramatically in the United States. Approximately 4,000 such deaths were documented in 1999, increasing to 16,235 in 2013, reflecting a nearly quadrupled death rate from 1.4 to 5.