Opioid Overdose

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 […]

Why are Black patients less likely than white patients to be prescribed opioids for acute pain in the emergency department (ED)? While many theories have been put forward (ranging from racial differences in patients’ pain management preferences to providers’ false beliefs in biological differences between racial groups), the specific mechanisms underpinning these disparities are unclear. […]

This summer, Sona Fokum and Weston Lowry are interning at the Center for Health Economics of Treatment Interventions for Substance Use Disorder, HCV, and HIV (CHERISH) and expanding their research experience by working alongside CHERISH investigators and colleagues. Both Fokum and Lowry are pursuing careers in healthcare and recognize that this experience will provide foundational […]

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 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 […]

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 […]

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) […]