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August 10, 2021 Research Highlights

Hospitalization as a Reachable Moment for Patients with Opioid Use Disorder

Imagine a medication that reduces morbidity and mortality from a disease that affects more than two million people in the United States. The medication drastically improves quality of life for those who take it and reduces costs to the health care system. For hospitalized patients, this medication decreases the chance of being readmitted and of […]

July 27, 2021 Profile Feature

Pilot Grant Recipients Receive Funding to Examine Health Disparities Related to the Treatment of Substance Use Disorders, HCV, and HIV

Shoshana Aronowitz, PhD, MSHP, FNP-BC Follow Shoshana Aronowitz, PhD, MSHP, FNP-BC, on Twitter @shoshiaronowitz. Shoshana Aronowitz is a family nurse practitioner, community-engaged health services researcher, and assistant professor in the Department of Family and Community Health at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. Her research examines innovative delivery models to promote equitable access to substance […]

July 26, 2021 Research Highlights

Robust Prescription Monitoring Programs and Abrupt Discontinuation of Long-term Opioid Use

Prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) are statewide databases that track controlled substances dispensed at retail pharmacies. Used by health care providers, public health officials, and other stakeholders, PDMPs have become a major tool in addressing unsafe opioid prescriptions. Robust features of PDMPs—including mandates that allow prescriber use of PDMP, data-sharing across states, and prescriber delegation of […]

July 23, 2021 Research Highlights

Prescription Opioids Dispensed to Patients with Cancer with Bone Metastasis: 2011-2017

In the past decade, opioid prescribing in the United States has steadily decreased as federal and state officials implemented strict regulations on prescription opioids to address the opioid crisis. The downward trend sparked concerns of undertreating chronic pain and prompted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to formally clarify that the 2016 CDC […]

July 1, 2021 Profile Feature

Welcome CHERISH Advisory Board Member Dr. Victoria Behar-Zusman

The Center for Health Economics of Treatment Interventions for Substance Use Disorder, HCV, and HIV (CHERISH) is thrilled to have Dr. Victoria Behar-Zusman joining as a member of the Center Advisory Board. Dr. Behar-Zusman is a principal investigator of the Center for Latino Health Research Opportunities (CLaRO) and leads the Investigator Development Core at the Center for HIV and […]

June 28, 2021 Research Highlights

Hepatitis C Treatment by Non-specialist Providers in the Direct-acting Antiviral Era

Direct-acting antiviral agents (DAAs), highly effective treatments for hepatitis C virus infection (HCV), transformed HCV therapy and made it easier for non-specialist providers to prescribe HCV treatment. Despite this simplification, many insurers include being a specialist as part of prior authorization requirements for DAA treatment. CHERISH Research Affiliate and former pilot grant recipient Shashi N. […]

June 16, 2021 Research Highlights

Prescription Drug Monitoring Program Mandates Affect Use of Opioids to Treat Acute, Severe Pain

Prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMP) have been crucial tools to address unsafe opioid prescribing. High rates of prescribing stoked the flames of the opioid crisis in the early 2000s, but opioid prescriptions have steadily decreased over the past decade. Unfortunately, opioid-related deaths have continued to rise each year. Many states have enacted comprehensive mandates that all clinicians consult the PDMP […]

June 16, 2021 Research Highlights

Economic Evaluations of Pharmacologic Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder: A Systematic Literature Review

In this systematic review, researchers affiliated with the Center for Health Economics of Treatment Interventions for Substance Use Disorder, HCV, and HIV (CHERISH) including CHERISH staff Erica Onuoha and Jared Leff; CHERISH investigators Bruce R. Schackman, Kathryn E. McCollister, and Sean M. Murphy; and CHERISH Advisory Board member Daniel Polsky, identified new studies supporting buprenorphine and methadone as economically advantageous medications for […]

June 4, 2021 Research Highlights

Characterizing Initiation, Use, and Discontinuation of Extended-Release Buprenorphine in a Nationally Representative United States Commercially Insured Cohort

Medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) are evidence-based treatments that help people reduce or stop using opioids. However, high discontinuation rates of MOUD pose a barrier to reducing opioid-related overdoses. Extended-release buprenorphine (XR-BUP) is a relatively new MOUD, approved in late 2017, that has the potential to increase retention because of its monthly dosing schedule. Currently, there is […]

April 19, 2021 Research Highlights

Harmonizing Healthcare and Other Resource Measures for Evaluating Economic Costs in Substance Use Disorder Research

The National Institute on Drug Abuse, or NIDA, considers data harmonization in substance use disorder, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and hepatitis C virus (HCV) research a high-priority. Data harmonization allows investigators to synthesize data across independent studies and promote more rigorous and comparable analyses of an intervention, program, or policy. Harmonizing data also ensures that […]

March 8, 2021 Profile Feature

Methodology Consultation Success: Jessica Magidson

South Africa carries one of the largest HIV burdens in the world. On a global scale, nearly 54% of the population living with HIV in low- and middle-income countries reside in eastern and southern Africa, and 13% reside in western and central Africa. The growing prevalence of substance use in South Africa is also associated […]

January 26, 2021 Research Highlights

Inpatient care versus outpatient MOUD treatment for individuals with OUD

In a new study in JAMA Network Open, CHERISH investigators Jake Morgan, Sean Murphy, Alexander Walley, Benjamin Linas and Bruce Schackman and colleagues, examined whether rates of opioid-related overdose and all-cause hospitalization differed after outpatient medication treatment or inpatient care for opioid use disorder. They studied individuals who had received one of three federally- approved medications […]

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