Medication for Opioid Use Disorder

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

“X-the X Waiver” has been the slogan used by physicians and public health advocates fighting for greater access to buprenorphine, a medication proven to treat opioid use disorder (OUD) with higher effectiveness than many other treatments. Despite being safe, however, buprenorphine is tightly regulated, and to prescribe it, health care providers need a permit (the X-waiver) […]