Opioids, Opioid Use Disorder, & Overdose Prevention

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.

This report aims to address the treatment care models for pregnant and postpartum women with SUD by describing opportunities to integrate OB/GYN and SUD care as well as barriers to integrated care delivery.

This brief highlights specific policy challenges and opportunities for policymakers to expand access to integrated services for pregnant and postpartum women with SUD.

From 1999 through 2019, there were more than 840,000 drug overdose deaths in the United States. The crisis has continually evolved and escalated, including during the COVID-19 pandemic, when an estimated 93,000 persons lost their lives to drug overdose in 2020--approximately a 30% increase over the year prior.

Buprenorphine treatment has been found to be an effective treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD). Child welfare systems have been partnering with treatment providers to increase access, yet little is known about its role in improving outcomes related to child maltreatment.

Postpartum Opioid Prescription Fills, Opioid Use Disorder, and Utilization of Medication-Assisted Treatment among Women with Medicaid and Private Health Insurance Coverage Issue Brief Mir M. Ali, Kristina West, and Emma Nye U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

How Does DATA-Waiver Provider Patient Capacity Relate to Opioid and Buprenorphine Prescribing? Issue Brief Robin Ghertner and Mir M. Ali U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Treatment providers, policymakers, and others are seeking ways to reverse the tide of mortality and morbidity that has accompanied the opioid epidemic. There are evidence-based treatments for opioid use disorder (OUD), including medication-assisted treatment (MAT) using buprenorphine, methadone, and naltrexone. Research shows that retention in MAT results in better outcomes.

Parental opioid use disorder (OUD) is a risk factor for the maltreatment of children and placement into foster care. Opioid agonist therapy (OAT) is an evidence-based treatment for OUD using medications such as methadone and buprenorphine. OAT can help parents enter recovery and reduce the risk of maltreatment, and potentially improve child welfare outcomes.