Sustained Treatment with Buprenorphine Following Emergency Department Encounters for Opioid-Related Illness

Austin Kilaru examined adherence to medications for opioid use disorder (buprenorphine and methadone) following an opioid related emergency department visit. He explored the association between adherence and co-payment or out-of-pocket costs and the association between treatment discontinuation and repeated opioid-related emergency department use. He used the Optum Clinformatics Datamart, a national commercial claims dataset. This study will have policy implications for payers and providers that seek to expand access to opioid use disorder treatment.

Austin Kilaru is an emergency medicine physician, health services researcher, a senior fellow at the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics at University of Pennsylvania, and an assistant professor of emergency medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine. His mission is to improve the value of emergency care through policy and payment interventions that improve coordination, reduce waste, and address social determinants of health.