Prescription Drugs & Other Medical Products

In April 2021 the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued revised Practice Guidelines for the Administration of Buprenorphine for Treating Opioid Use Disorder (Practice Guideline).

In this brief, we highlight experiences and practices from substance use treatment providers and their human services partners when serving people of color. We selected providers that focused on serving people of color, and this study was not intended to assess outcomes or effectiveness of any of the practices highlighted.

This updated 2022 vignette provides examples of how a range of Office of the Secretary Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Trust Fund (OS-PCORTF) cross-agency projects are working to address the opioid overdose crisis by 1) Improving Timeliness and Quality of Outcomes Data 2) Building Capacity for Collection of Patient-Reported Outcomes 3) Building Linkages to Address Co-Morbidities

This brief presents estimates of the number and percentage of children whose parents engage in problematic substance use, including past-year substance use and SUD by substance type and child demographics. Key findings include:

Per Section 223(d)(7)(A) of the Protecting Access to Medicare Act (PAMA) of 2014 (Public Law 113-93), the HHS Secretary must submit to Congress an annual report on the use of funds provided under all demonstration programs conducted under this subsection, not later than one year after the date on which the first state is selected for a demonstration program under this subsection, and annually t

High prescription drug costs are a leading concern among Americans. Americans pay higher prices for prescription drugs than any other country in the world, with prescription drug prices in the U.S. more than 2.5 times as high as those in other similar high-income nations.

Prescription drug price increases create affordability challenges for patients and for the government. This report tracks drug price changes from 2016-2022. There were 1,216 products whose price increases during the twelve-month period from July 2021 to July 2022 exceeded the inflation rate of 8.5 percent for that time period. The average price increase for these drugs was 31.6 percent.

The COVID-19 pandemic had wide-ranging impacts on health care delivery, particularly services that require in-person interactions. For patients needing access to medications to treat pain or certain substance use disorders, the COVID-19 pandemic presented particular challenges for continuity of treatment.

Opioid use was very common among the long-term care (LTC) residents in our sample. Perhaps reflecting their post-acute rehabilitative needs, discharged residents were more likely to have opioid use prior to LTC admission and at the beginning of the LTC stay.

Key Findings Policy discussion surrounding U.S. prescription drug prices focuses on whether prices in the United States are too high or appropriate relative to the benefits that they offer to patients.