Health Economic Research Supporting the U.S. Response to the Opioid Crisis: Defining Cost Effective Interventions and Implementation Strategies

Kathryn McCollister, Phd
University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine

ABSTRACT:
As the U.S. continues to grapple with the opioid epidemic, the National Institutes of Health, in collaboration with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, has recently launched several funding initiatives tasked with identifying, testing, and implementing evidence-based strategies to significantly reduce overdose fatalities and other negative consequences associated with opioid use disorders (OUD). Health economics research is highlighted as an important component to these new studies; specifically, the need for economic data informing resource allocation, cost effectiveness, and financing mechanisms that support the feasibility and sustainability of recommended strategies. This talk will describe the current state of knowledge on the cost effectiveness of treatment interventions and other strategies for OUD as well as relatively new questions relating to the economics of implementation at a broader community- or systems-level.