On Monday morning, Mayor Catherine Pugh and Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen announced a new initiative to combat the opioid epidemic in the city. The Levels of Care initiative involves identifying best practices for responding to the opioid epidemic and will be based in 11 Baltimore hospitals included Bon Secours, Mercy Medical Center, St. Agnes, University of Maryland, and Johns Hopkins Bayview. 

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The city of Baltimore rolled out a new initiative Monday morning for responding to the opioid epidemic in the city's 11 hospitals.

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Baltimore hospitals will have new incentives for better addressing the opioid crisis—and sharing best practices with their counterparts across the city—under a new initiative announced by the city's top officials Monday. 

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The city of Baltimore rolled out a new initiative in the city's 11 hospitals Monday morning for responding to the opioid epidemic.

"There can be no question that this is an emergency and public health crisis," said Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen.

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Whether it’s night or day, opioid overdoses in Baltimore are an around-the-clock epidemic. Especially when fentanyl is mixed in; a drug 50 to 100 times more powerful than heroin.

According to Baltimore Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen, “Since 2013, we’ve gone from 12 fentanyl deaths in one year to 500.”

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In her op-ed, Dr. Wen explains the importance of Baltimore City's victory in the lawsuit against HHS: 

This ruling is ultimately about our children and their children. I hope that the value of science and evidence will continue to be recognized and I look forward to continuing to fulfill our responsibility of protecting the health and ensuring the well-being of our youth.

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Baltimore’s 11 hospitals have committed to a new city initiative aimed at increasing their role in fighting the opioid epidemic. 

Executives from each hospital joined Mayor Catherine E. Pugh and Health Commissioner Dr. Leana S. Wen Monday in announcing the efforts to screen patients for addiction, connect them to rehabilitation services and distribute the overdose reversal drug naloxone, among other ways to better help people dealing with substance abuse. 

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The number of Americans who have died in the ongoing opioid epidemic continues to climb. Between September 2016 and September 2017, more than 45,600 Americans died from overdoses involving opioids. The number of fatal opioid-related overdoses in D.C. more than doubled between 2015 and 2016, and continued to rise in 2017. While Baltimore has not yet published its final numbers for the previous year, preliminary data for the first three quarters of 2017 suggests a similar trend.

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Baltimore city hospitals soon will be scored on how prepared they are to respond to the opioid epidemic, the city's health department announced Monday. 

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