Medication for Opioid Use Disorder

Compared to the general population, individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD) who are involved with the criminal-legal system have a much higher risk of a fatal overdose after release from incarceration. Yet, stigma, costs, and preferences for non-narcotic treatments in criminal-legal settings have stalled the implementation of life-saving treatment within the criminal-legal system. Extended-release naltrexone […]

Increased prevalence of illicit substance use during pregnancy in the past decade has renewed national attention to prenatal substance use policies (PSUPs). Currently, there are punitive policies that criminalize drug use during pregnancy or define prenatal substance use as child maltreatment in child welfare statutes. If newborns are found to have prenatal exposure to substances […]

Overdose deaths continue to be a national tragedy. More than 800,000 Americans died from an overdose between 1999-2019, and the annual rate of overdoses has increased dramatically during the pandemic, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Roughly 7 in 10 current overdose deaths involve opioids, which means that […]

From April 2020 through April 2021, there were 100,300 drug overdose deaths across the country according to the CDC — a 28.5% increase over the previous year. Some 75% of these were opioid-related overdoses that killed an average of nine users an hour around the clock throughout the year. Looking forward, the just-published Stanford-Lancet Commission on […]

If you want to reform state laws to require detox facilities to include medications like buprenorphine and methadone in their treatments, you should start by changing the “hearts and minds” of those who oppose it, Rebekah Gee, MD, MPH, MHSPR, told the January 14, 2022 Penn LDI/CHERISH Virtual Conference at the University of Pennsylvania. Keynoting a gathering organized […]

Overdose deaths have reached unprecedented levels in the U.S., despite effective medications to treat opioid use disorders (OUDs). Because the regulatory and administrative barriers to treatment are high, only about 11% of people with OUD receive effective medications, which include buprenorphine, methadone, and naltrexone. In response, clinicians and advocates have looked to a “low-threshold” approach […]

In a new study in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine, my colleagues and I estimate the number and distribution of emergency visits for opioid use disorder (OUD) across the country. We found that nearly 2/3 of all emergency visits for OUD occurred in 25% of EDs nationwide. Why is this important? Patients with OUD come to the […]

In the summer of 2021, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) awarded Bruce R. Schackman, CHERISH director and Saul P. Steinberg Distinguished Professor at Weill Cornell Medicine, and Natasha Martin, CHERISH Research Affiliate and associate professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of California San Diego, a scientific conference grant to provide simulation modeling […]

Every spring, the Center for Health Economics of Treatment Interventions for Substance Use Disorder, HCV, and HIV (CHERISH) awards competitive pilot grants to investigators interested in developing health economic research in our areas of interest, with a focus on junior investigators and trainees. Funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, CHERISH pilot grants provide these investigators […]

Naltrexone and buprenorphine are two effective medications for opioid use disorder (OUD). Naltrexone, which is typically given as a monthly extended-release injection (XR-NTX), and daily oral buprenorphine, which is typically combined with naloxone (BUP-NX), are prescribed in outpatient or office-based medical settings. XR-NTX patients, however, need to complete detoxification before starting treatment. Results from a […]

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 […]

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 […]