Hospital Financial Incentives to Improve Care After Opioid Overdose

By Austin Kilaru, MD, Jeanmarie Perrone, MD, and Zachary Meisel, MD January 6, 2020
Austin Kilaru, MD, is an emergency physician & fellow in the National Clinician Scholars Program at the University of Pennsylvania & an LDI Associate Fellow.

Early analysis of Pennsylvania’s program

Two patients are treated for opioid overdose at two different hospitals, just a few miles apart. The first hospital provides life-saving treatment to reverse the overdose and watches the patient for an hour, discharging them when deemed “medically stable.” The second hospital also provides life-saving treatment but then offers counseling, medication to prevent recurrent overdose and treat opioid withdrawal, and assistance navigating to outpatient treatment for the next day.

Co-Authors, Dr. Meisel and Dr. Perrone (Photograph by Hoag Levins)