Experts across the U.S. are constantly working to combat the opioid crisis, which is what dominated the top healthcare headlines of the week. Other big topics include a global look at how doctors treat chronic back pain and another major announcement from drugstore giant CVS.

Let’s take a look at this week’s top stories in healthcare.

CVS Health expands into kidney health services.

The company said Wednesday it will offer home dialysis for patients through its Coram business, and it is working with another unspecified company to develop a new device for that. Read the full story here.

Surgeon General asks for Americans to carry opioid overdose drugs and learn when to use them.

United States Surgeon General, Dr. Jerome M. Adams, said Americans should carry and learn how to use naloxone in emergencies. This is the first national advisory issued since 2005. Read the full New York Times report here.

Healthcare experts say coaching patients on lifestyle changes can help keep them off opioids for chronic pain issues–but can patients stick with the treatments?

While it’s less convenient and more time consuming, pain specialists are saying to focus on opioid alternatives like physical and occupational therapy, massage, and nutrition counseling. Read the full story.

Suffer from lower back pain? You’re definitely not alone–about 540 million people have the same problem.

“We don’t think about [back pain] the same way as cancer or heart attacks. But if you look at disability it causes, especially in middle- and low-income where there isn’t a safety net, it impacts half a billion people,” says Roger Chou, a physician who is a pain specialist at the Oregon Health and Science University. Read the full NPR news report here.