Publications

Older adults in the United States have been dramatically impacted by the opioid overdose crisis. Over the past two decades, rates of opioid‐related overdose deaths and opioid use disorder have

In 2022, 48.7 million people in the United States (17.3% of the population aged 12 or older), met criteria for substance use disorder (SUD). Nearly 40% of people with opioid

We analyze all reported opioid exposures (n = 13,174) for adolescents aged 12–17 years in the United States, before and during COVID-19 (January 1, 2016–December 31, 2021). Outcome variables measured

Buprenorphine is an effective medication for treating opioid use disorder (OUD) and reducing opioid-related overdose deaths. Community pharmacies are key access points for buprenorphine, with pharmacists well-positioned to dispense and counsel patients

Managed care plans, which contract with states to cover three-quarters of Medicaid enrollees, play a crucial role in addressing the drug epidemic in the United States. However, substance use disorder

Medicaid managed care organizations (MCO) play a major role in addressing the nation’s epidemic of drug overdose and mortality by administering substance use disorder (SUD) treatment benefits for over 50

Single State Agencies (SSAs) are at the forefront of efforts to address the nation’s opioid epidemic, responsible for allocating billions of dollars in federal, state, and local funds to ensure

To document state Medicaid pre- and postrelease initiatives for individuals in the criminal legal system with substance use disorder (SUD). An Internet-based survey was sent in 2021 to Medicaid directors

Prior to January of 2020, there was no Medicare reimbursement for services delivered in opioid treatment programs (OTPs). OTPs are the only authorized providers of opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment

Buprenorphine is among the most effective drugs for treating opioid use disorder, yet only a quarter of Americans who need it receive it. Requiring prior authorization has been identified as

Rates of neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) resulting from opioid misuse are rising. However, policies to treat opioid misuse during pregnancy are unclear. We apply a difference-in-differences design to national pediatric

Medicaid is the largest payer of substance use disorder treatment in the US and plays a key role in responding to the opioid epidemic. However, as recently as 2017, many

In 2020 Medicare began reimbursing for opioid treatment program (OTP) services, including methadone maintenance treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD), for the first time. Methadone is highly effective for OUD,

Opioid-related overdose mortality in the United States continues to rise, with opioid mortality reaching an all-time high in 2022 with more than 110,000 drug poisonings. To address the continuing opioid

Medicaid is a key policy lever to improve opioid use disorder treatment, covering approximately 40% of Americans with opioid use disorder. Although approximately 70% of Medicaid beneficiaries are enrolled in

Medicaid is a key policy lever to improve opioid use disorder treatment, covering approximately 40% of Americans with opioid use disorder. Although approximately 70% of Medicaid beneficiaries are enrolled in

Despite increases in alcohol-related mortality, excessive drinking, and alcohol use disorder (AUD) among older adults, the availability of medications for alcohol use disorder (MAUD) for Medicare Part D beneficiaries has

This study uses multiple measures of excess deaths to analyze racial disparities in COVID-19 mortality across Georgia. The Georgia Department of Public Health provided monthly mortality data for 2010–2020 stratified

Although numerous studies have examined the geographic availability of medications for opioid use disorder, none have measured the availability of medications for alcohol use disorder (MAUD) in the United States.

To examine the effectiveness of changes in opioid prescription policies on opioid prescribing and health services utilization rates in Georgia Medicaid. This study used data from the Georgia Medicaid patient

Research has examined the effect of Medicaid expansion on access to physicians with buprenorphine waivers, but less attention has been paid to Medicaid’s impact on opioid use disorder medication availability

Empirical evidence shows postpartum women are prescribed opioids at high rates following both cesarean and vaginal delivery. Beyond this, little is known about opioid prescribing to postpartum mothers following delivery

The objective of this study is to identify demographic and clinical characteristics of patients with a pain diagnosis who fill potentially inappropriate opioid prescriptions within the Oregon Medicaid population. Using

In contrast to the Affordable Care Act, some have suggested the opioid epidemic represents an area of bipartisanship. This raises an important question: to what extent are Democrat-led and Republican-led

In 2016 only 13.8 percent of substance use disorder treatment programs offered medication treatment for opioid use disorder for older adults who used Medicare to pay for treatment. With increasing

Despite high mortality rates due to opioid overdose and excessive alcohol consumption, medications for the treatment of alcohol and opioid use disorder have not been widely used in the USA. This paper provides an

The study measured the association between local opioid problem severity and changes in the availability of substance use disorder treatment programs, including the distance required for travel to treatment. A

Co-occurring mental health disorders are common among substance use disorder (SUD) patients. Medicaid expansion aimed to reduce barriers to SUD and mental health care and thereby improve treatment outcomes. We estimated change in

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) prompted sweeping changes to Medicaid, including expanding insurance coverage to an estimated 12 million previously uninsured Americans, and imposing new parity requirements on benefits for

Established in 2014, state health insurance exchanges have greatly expanded substance use disorder (SUD) treatment coverage in the United States as qualified health plans (QHPs) within the exchanges are required

We used 2 waves of survey data collected from Single State Agencies in 2014 and 2017 as part of the National Drug Abuse Treatment System Survey. The percentage of states

To examine the association between potential inappropriate prescribing practices of opioids and deaths among opioid users in the Georgia Medicaid population. A retrospective analysis of individual pharmacy claims data from

We used data from 2 waves of the National Drug Abuse Treatment System Survey conducted in 2014 and 2017 in the United States to assess the relationship of utilization restrictions

There has been a dramatic rise in the number of opioid prescriptions and opioid overdose deaths in the United States over the past 15 years. Misuse and abuse of opioids

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) established a minimum standard of insurance benefits for addiction treatment and expanded federal parity regulations to selected Medicaid benefit plans, which required state Medicaid programs

We collected primary data from the 2013–2014 wave of the National Drug Abuse Treatment System Survey. We created two measures of benefits restrictiveness. In the first, we calculated the number of

Medicaid populations have been disproportionately affected by the opioid epidemic. In Georgia, opioid deaths have increased at more than twice the rate of the nation at large. It is unknown

As the United States grapples with an opioid epidemic, expanding access to effective treatment for opioid use disorder is a major public health priority. Identifying effective policy tools that can

The Medication Research Partnership (MRP), a collaboration between a national commercial health plan and nine addiction treatment centers, implemented organizational and system changes to promote use of federally approved medications

Given the high prevalence of smoking among substance use disorder (SUD) patients, the specialty SUD treatment system is an important target for adoption and implementation of tobacco cessation (TC) services.

Research has examined the safety, efficacy, feasibility, and cost-effectiveness of buprenorphine for the treatment of opioid dependence, but few studies have examined patient and provider experiences, especially in community health

We used local measures of spatial autocorrelation (LISA) analysis to identify (1) clusters of counties with higher and lower than average rates of opioid use disorders and (2) clusters of

Any historical assessment of the public health legacy of the Obama administration will have to look favorably at the impact of the Affordable Care Act (ACA; Pub L No. 111–148)

Despite considerable empirical evidence that psychosocial interventions improve addiction treatment outcomes across populations, implementation remains problematic. A small body of research points to the importance of research network participation as

The Affordable Care Act requires state Medicaid programs to cover substance use disorder treatment for their Medicaid expansion population but allows states to decide which individual services are reimbursable. To

Medications for treatment of substance use disorders are underutilized in treatment programs in the United States. Little is known about how insurance enrollment within states affects treatment program decisions about

Opioid use and overdose rates have risen to epidemic levels in the United States during the past decade. Fortunately, there are effective medications (ie, methadone, buprenorphine, and oral and injectable

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) dramatically expands health insurance for addiction treatment and provides unprecedented opportunities for service growth and delivery model reform. Yet most addiction treatment programs lack the

We report findings from a 3-year, mixed-method study of how treatment systems promoted two evidence-based practices: medication-assisted treatment and continuing care management. We compared outcomes and implementation strategies across 12

Prior research suggests that publicly funded substance use disorder (SUD) treatment programs lag behind privately funded programs in adoption of evidence-based practices, resulting in disparities in access to high-quality SUD

The study used mixed methods, in-depth, semistructured interviews and quantitative surveys. Interviews assessed state and provider strategies to accelerate implementation of EBPs. Statewide implementation of psychosocial interventions and MAT increased

There is a growing body of research supporting the use of buprenorphine and other medication assisted treatments (MATs) for the rapidly accelerating opioid epidemic in the United States. Despite numerous advantages of buprenorphine (accessible in primary care,

The National Institute on Drug Abuse’s Clinical Trials Network (CTN) is a practice-based research network that partners academic researchers with community based substance use disorder (SUD) treatment programs designed primarily to conduct

For more than 60 years sociologists have examined public attitudes toward persons with alcohol use disorders (AUDs), but there is little recent data on this topic. Using responses to vignettes

Counselor emotional exhaustion has negative implications for treatment organizations as well as the health of counselors. Quality clinical supervision is protective against emotional exhaustion, but research on the mediating mechanisms

Data from a national study of 345 privately funded, community-based substance use disorder (SUD) treatment centers were used to investigate social workers’ knowledge, perceptions of effectiveness, and perceptions of the

Racial and ethnic minorities and injection drug users (IDUs) are at increased risk of HIV infection. However, the associations between these caseload characteristics and the availability of onsite HIV testing

The purpose of this study was to examine factors that may be associated with variation in social workers’ perceptions of effectiveness, perceptions of acceptability, and use of psychosocial evidence-based practices

Little is known about the organizational and environmental factors associated with the employment of nurses in substance abuse treatment programs. Using data collected from the administrators of 250 publicly funded

Treatment providers in the US have been slow to adopt medications to treat alcohol use disorders (AUDs). This study examines the availability of AUD medications in a nationally representative sample

The employment of physicians by substance abuse treatment organizations is understudied, despite physicians’ importance in implementing pharmacotherapy and integrating treatment into the broader system of medical care. Drawing on data

Given that most addiction counselors enter the field unprepared to implement psychosocial evidence-based practices (EBPs), surprisingly little is known about the extent to which substance abuse treatment centers provide their

Despite growing interest in the use of evidence-based treatment practices for treating substance use disorders, adoption of medications by treatment programs remains modest. Drawing on resource dependence and institutional theory,

Identifying facilitators of more rapid buprenorphine adoption may increase access to this effective treatment for opioid dependence. Using a diffusion of innovations theoretical framework, we examine the extent to which