Research Highlights

The opioid epidemic has been one of the most pressing and challenging issues that the U.S. has faced in recent decades, with countless lives lost to this devastating crisis. Now, stimulant-related overdoses are among the next big drug-related concerns, with recent studies showing that the mortality rate linked to stimulant use in the U.S. has […]

In this systematic literature review published in Value in Health, CHERISH Research Affiliates Czarina Behrends and Ahmed Bayoumi, CHERISH staff members Jared Leff, Jazmine Li, and Erminia Fardone, CHERISH investigators Kathryn McCollister, Sean M. Murphy, and Bruce Schackman, and former NIDA summer intern, Weston Lowry, analyzed 16 studies that summarized and identified gaps of economic […]

Individuals with physical health concerns made up the largest and fastest growing of five subgroups of individuals who died by suicide n the United States over roughly twenty years, according to an analysis led by Weill Cornell Medicine in collaboration with Columbia University, UC Berkeley School of Public Health, the University of Hong Kong and […]

Opioids are routinely prescribed to patients after a surgery—whether they use them or not. A new study, led by LDI Senior Fellow Anish Agarwal will help tailor prescribing so patients get the right amount of opioid medications; not too little and not too much. Unused opioids are a particular problem. Opioid misuse can start when extra tablets […]

LDI Senior and Associate Fellows Ashish Thakrar, Margaret (Maggie) Lowenstein, Ryan Greysen, and M. Kit Delgado found that more people with opioid use disorder are leaving the hospital prematurely (or before medically advised), compared to marginal increases for individuals admitted for other reasons. In the study, “Trends in Before Medically Advised Discharges for Patients with Opioid Use Disorder, 2016-2020,” […]

The opioid epidemic has been an ongoing public health crisis in the United States, claiming countless lives and devastating communities. Buprenorphine, a highly effective medication for the treatment of opioid use disorders, holds the potential to save lives. However, a significant hurdle exists in the form of prior authorization requirements, which are associated with lower access to […]

While there are highly effective treatments for the hepatitis C virus (HCV), only 1 in 5 Medicaid enrollees diagnosed with HCV started treatment, according to a retrospective study led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine and Cornell University’s Ithaca campus. The findings revealed that treatment uptake rates were even lower among people under 30, women, […]

The economic burden of substance use disorder (SUD) is significant. It encompasses clinical and societal costs such as health care and social services, criminal justice resources, loss of productivity, and premature mortality, and is estimated to cost more than $700 billion per year in the United States. To understand the gravity of these economic costs, […]

Despite evidence that medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD), namely methadone, buprenorphine, and naltrexone, provided at the point of incarceration improve the well-being of the individual and the public, financial and administrative limitations in jail/prison healthcare often serve as barriers to this recommended first-line treatment for OUD. In fact, evidence indicates that more than 80% […]

Conducting an economic evaluation alongside a randomized clinical trial provides valuable information for clinicians, insurers, and policy stakeholders. Integrating an economic evaluation within a trial provides researchers the opportunity to collect patient-level data at multiple time points on both cost and effectiveness outcomes, and to measure the comparative impact of treatments on these outcomes while […]

For the last 20 years or so, the U.S. has seen a significant increase in opioid and drug overdoses overall. And while there was a slight leveling before the pandemic, “we’ve seen huge increases since COVID-19,” said Margaret Lowenstein, an LDI Senior Fellow, addiction medicine physician, and an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Perelman School of […]

Drug overdose deaths continue to rise in the United States and Canada, with the risks for greater opioid use sharply increasing in Mexico. As modelers, we know simulation modeling is a valuable tool that can inform policies and interventions to prevent overdose deaths and reduce related harms including drug overdose, HIV, and hepatitis C virus […]