PORTLAND — The state’s medical professionals have launched the 1,000 Lives Campaign for Maine, aimed at reducing deaths from opioid drug overdoses by 1,000 during a five-year period beginning Jan. 1.

Modeled on the Institute for HealthCare Improvement’s “100,000 Lives Campaign” to address preventable medical errors in hospitals, the campaign is a systematic, clinician-led, collaborative campaign to reduce the number of predicted opioid-related deaths in Maine by 1,000 from current projections.

“In the midst of this holiday season, we mourn those whom we’ve lost to the disease of addiction and re-commit ourselves as the medical professionals of our state — the nursing, physician, physician assistant, behavioral health practitioner, and all others — to respond to the severe public health threat of opioid use disorder,” said Dr. Paul Cain, president of the Maine Medical Association, in a news release.

The campaign seeks to prevent opioid use disorder deaths by implementing a set of health care site- and clinician-specific interventions to improve the treatment of substance use disorders, with particular attention to improving treatment for opioid use disorder. The interventions will be chosen based on their ability to reduce deaths.

This campaign will be led by Maine’s physician and other clinician leadership, partnering with the state of Maine, opioid treatment providers, outpatient and residential treatment centers, and other key stakeholders.

Health care organizations and clinicians will assume the leadership role that this effort requires, and take the lead in convincing health care organizations and clinicians to sign on to these increased efforts.

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