Published: 08/24/2026 | Author: Nikki Wisher

Kentucky recorded 1,110 overdose deaths in 2025. That is a fourth consecutive annual decline and a drop of nearly 23% in a single year, and it is still more than a thousand people.

Both facts matter for anyone tracking opioid addiction in the state, because the programs behind the decline are the ones now being asked to hold it.

One of those programs runs through hospitals. Writing in the Kentucky Lantern on August 20, Melanie Landrum, interim chief executive and senior vice president of the Kentucky Hospital Association, described how the Kentucky Statewide Opioid Stewardship program is working and why she argues it needs to keep going.

The Opioid Crisis by the Numbers

Kentucky’s overdose deaths have fallen for four years running. The 2025 figure of 1,110 deaths reflects a decline of nearly 23% from the prior year. Across the state’s 17 Emergency Department Bridge Programs, peer support specialists have logged more than 2,000 of what the program calls peer support touches so far in 2026.

A peer support touch covers any contact between a peer support specialist and a patient with a substance use disorder, including recovery coaching, help linking or referring to treatment, referrals to services such as transportation and food, and harm reduction education, including handing naloxone directly to a patient.

What Is Driving the Change

The Kentucky Statewide Opioid Stewardship program, known as KYSOS, is a partnership between the Kentucky Hospital Association and the Cabinet for Health and Family Services through the Kentucky Opioid Response Effort.

KYSOS works with hospitals to reduce opioid overprescribing and improve safe prescribing when opioids are warranted. It operates in inpatient units, hospital-owned outpatient primary care clinics, and emergency departments.

The Emergency Department Bridge Program is the piece aimed at people already living with opioid use disorder. Patients are connected with peer support specialists while they are still in the hospital, which produces a direct handoff to addiction treatment and community resources rather than a phone number to call later.

Landrum opened her commentary with an account of a Kentucky woman who was referred to an emergency department for help managing opioid withdrawal and was afraid to walk in, not because she doubted treatment was available but because she expected judgment. A peer support specialist reached her, she received treatment, and she remains in recovery.

Landrum also argues that stewardship is not about withholding pain relief. Her framing is that hospitals should treat pain safely, prescribe responsibly, and recognize opioid use disorder early enough to act on it.

Understanding Opioids and Overdose Risk

Opioids include prescription medications such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, and morphine, along with heroin and illicitly manufactured fentanyl. Fentanyl is far more potent than heroin by weight, and because it is often mixed into other supplies, people can be exposed without knowing it.

Signs of an opioid overdose include slowed or stopped breathing, blue or gray lips and fingertips, pinpoint pupils, and unresponsiveness. Naloxone reverses an opioid overdose and does not harm someone who has not taken opioids, which is why carrying it is recommended even for people who do not use drugs themselves.

Harm Reduction and Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder

Medication for opioid use disorder, including methadone, buprenorphine, and naltrexone, is the evidence-based standard of care and is associated with reduced risk of death. A hospital that starts medication before discharge removes the gap where relapse and overdose are most likely.

Peer support works alongside that, not instead of it. A peer support specialist is someone in recovery who has been trained and certified to help others navigate treatment and early recovery. The Kentucky model puts that person in the room during the hospital visit.

Landrum’s central point is that no single program or profession solves this alone, and that the decline reflects collaboration among hospitals, clinicians, pharmacists, peer support specialists, behavioral health providers, public health leaders, law enforcement, policymakers, patients, and families.

Finding Help for Opioid Addiction in Kentucky

If you are leaving a hospital in Kentucky, ask whether the facility participates in a bridge program and whether a peer support specialist can meet with you before discharge. Ask whether medication can be started during the stay.

Narcotics Anonymous meetings offer ongoing peer support after treatment begins, and many people combine NA attendance with medication and clinical care. Search NA meetings in Kentucky by city to find in-person and virtual options, including open meetings that visitors and family members may attend. Call 800-934-1582(Sponsored) to speak witha treatment specialist today.