On the frontlines: The Louisiana Association of Self Insured Employers has joined the fight against opioid addiction. The association announced this morning it’s endorsing U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy’s “Turn the Tide Rx” campaign, which urges health care professional to improve opioid prescribing practices. Murthy says opioid overdose deaths in the United States have quadrupled since 1999 and prescriptions have soared. LASIE cites a Workers’ Compensation Research Institute’s study that says 85% of Louisiana’s injured workers receive opioids as pain medications and one in six receive long-term use of opioids. “Too many of our state’s injured workers fail to regain function and return to work because opioids are prescribed against evidence-based guidelines,” says LASIE Executive Director Gary Patureau. “This hurts injured workers who are desperately trying to get well and return to their normal lives along with their families, communities and employers.”
New to the market: El Pollo Loco, the California-based fire-grilled chicken chain, plans to enter the Louisiana market by opening two new franchisee-owned restaurants in the Lafayette area by 2018. The new restaurants will be operated by Lafayette native Jason Trotter, owner of Listo Way Group LLC, the company says in a press release. “Louisiana is a natural next step for our brand given our strong and growing presence in Texas. We remain focused on accelerating development and continue to seek new franchise candidates like Jason with the resources and capability to develop the brand in new markets,” says Steve Sather, El Pollo Loco president and CEO. Read the full announcement.
Lowered expectations: The International Monetary Fund announced this morning that it’s lowering its forecast for U.S. growth this year, The Washington Post reports. The IMF expects that the United States’ output will expand by a 1.6%, more than half a percentage point less than forecast in July. The newspaper reports that this is the biggest decline for a developed nation and is driven by unexpectedly weak business investment and slim inventories. Economies in the Europe, the United Kingdom, Japan and Canada also are expected to grow 1.6%, down 0.2 percentage points from the IMF’s last estimate. Read the full story.
