Simulated impact of medicaid expansion on the economic burden of opioid use disorder in North Carolina.

BACKGROUND: Opioid use disorder (OUD) imposes significant costs on state and local governments. Medicaid expansion may lead to a reduction in the cost burden of OUD to the state. METHODS: We estimated the health care, criminal justice and child welfare costs, and tax revenue losses, attributable to OUD and borne by the state of North Carolina in 2022, and then estimated changes in the same domains following Medicaid expansion in North Carolina (adopted in December 2023). Analyses used existing literature on the national and state-level costs attributable to OUD to estimate individual-level health care, criminal justice, and child welfare system costs, and lost tax revenues. We combined Individual-level costs and prevalence estimates to estimate costs borne by the state before Medicaid expansion. Changes in costs after expansion were computed based on a) medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) access for new enrollees and b) shifting of responsibility for some health care costs from the state to the federal government. Monte Carlo simulation accounted for the impact of parameter uncertainty. Dollar estimates are from the 2022 price year, and costs following the first year were discounted at 3 %. RESULTS: In 2022, North Carolina incurred costs of $749 million (95 % credible interval [CI]: $305 M-$1,526 M) associated with OUD (53 % in health care, 36 % in criminal justice, 7 % in lost tax revenue, and 4 % in child welfare costs). Expanding Medicaid lowered the cost burden of OUD incurred by the state. The state was predicted to save an estimated $72 million per year (95 % CI: $6 M-$241 M) for the first two years and $30 million per year (95 % CI: -$28 M-$176 M) in subsequent years. Over five years, savings totaled $224 million (95 % CI: -$47 M-$949 M). CONCLUSION: Medicaid expansion has the potential to decrease the burden of OUD in North Carolina, and policymakers should expedite its implementation.

The effect of untargeted naloxone distribution on opioid overdose outcomes.

Opioid overdose has claimed the lives of over 340,000 Americans in the last decade. Over that same period, policymakers have taken steps to increase the availability of naloxone-an opioid antagonist used to rescue overdose victims-to people in the community. Previous studies, most of which have examined the effects of state laws designed to facilitate access to naloxone, have reached mixed conclusions about the effects of naloxone access on fatal and non-fatal overdoses. This paper exploits a unique policy experiment provided by two naloxone giveaways intended to increase naloxone possession among the general public in Pennsylvania to estimate the causal impact of naloxone distribution on fatal overdoses and opioid-related emergency department (ED) visits. Using a difference-in-differences design, I find evidence that opioid overdose deaths fell immediately following the first giveaway but increased following the second giveaway and discuss these apparently contradictory findings in the context of the changing composition of the opioid supply. I also find some evidence of a decline in opioid overdose-related ED visits following the giveaways. This study is the first to examine the effects of untargeted naloxone distribution and has implications for other novel, naloxone distribution efforts currently underway.

Pennsylvania's Community Coordination Strategy to Reduce Opioid Overdose Deaths.

OBJECTIVE: The Pennsylvania Opioid Overdose Reduction Technical Assistance Center (ORTAC) was developed to provide community-level support across Pennsylvania with the goal of reducing the opioid-related overdose death (ODD) rate via coalition building/coordination and tailored technical assistance. This study evaluates the initial effects of ORTAC engagement on county-level opioid ODD reductions. METHOD: Using quasi-experimental difference-in-difference models, we compared ODD per 100,000 population per quarter between 2016 and 2019 in the 29 ORTAC-implementing counties against the 19 nonengaged counties while controlling for county-level time-varying confounders (e.g., naloxone administration by law enforcement). RESULTS: Before ORTAC implementation, the average ODD/100,000 was 8.92 per 100,000 (SD = 3.62) in ORTAC counties and 5.62 per 100,000 (SD = 2.17) for the 19 comparison counties. Relative to the pre-study rate, there was an estimated 30% decrease in the ODD/100,000 within implementing counties after the first two quarters of ORTAC implementation. In the second year after ORTAC implementation, the estimated difference between ORTAC and non-ORTAC counties reached a high of 3.80 fewer deaths per 100,000. Overall, analyses indicated that ORTAC's service was associated with avoiding 1,818 opioid ODD in the 29 implementing counties in the 2 years following implementation. CONCLUSIONS: Findings reinforce the impact of coordinating communities around addressing the ODD crisis. Future policy efforts should provide a suite of overdose reduction strategies and intuitive data structures that can be tailored to individual communities' needs.

Alcohol Consumption During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic in the United States: Results From a Nationally Representative Longitudinal Survey.

INTRODUCTION: Alcohol consumption and risky drinking behavior increased in the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, but it is not known if and for whom those changes were sustained over the longer term. This study analyzes longitudinal data on drinking patterns during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. METHODS: A nationally representative longitudinal survey was used to assess alcohol consumption patterns among respondents 21 years and older who reported drinking between February and November 2020 (N = 557) overall and by subgroups. RESULTS: Compared with February, drinks per month in April and November 2020 significantly ( P ≤ 0.01) increased by 36% and 38%, respectively. The proportion exceeding drinking guidelines significantly increased by 27% and 39%, and increases for binge drinking were 26% and 30% (both P = 0.01). February to November increases in proportion exceeding drinking guidelines were significantly larger for women (54% increase) than for men (32%), and for Black (508%) than for White respondents (16%). Drinks per month significantly increased more for respondents with children in the household (64%) than for those without children (20%). There also was a significantly larger increase in drinks per month for those who reported drinking to cope (57% increase) and those who reported drinking for enhancement (40%) than for those who did not. CONCLUSIONS: Self-reported alcohol consumption and risky drinking patterns increased during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Monitoring alcohol consumption changes, with a focus on marginalized groups, is warranted to plan behavioral health services and inform prevention for future pandemics.

Modeling the impact of COVID-19 pandemic-driven increases in alcohol consumption on health outcomes and hospitalization costs in the United States.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Alcohol consumption increased in the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. Alcohol use disorder (AUD) and risky drinking are linked to harmful health effects. This paper aimed to project future health and cost impacts of shifts in alcohol consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic. DESIGN: An individual-level simulation model of the long-term drinking patterns for people with life-time AUD was used to simulate 10 000 individuals and project model outcomes to the estimated 25.9 million current drinkers with life-time AUD in the United States. The model considered three scenarios: (1) no change (counterfactual for comparison); (2) increased drinking levels persist for 1 year ('increase-1') and (3) increased drinking levels persist for 5 years ('increase-5'). SETTING: United States. PARTICIPANTS: Current drinkers with life-time AUD. MEASUREMENTS: Life expectancy [life-years (LYs)], quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs), alcohol-related hospitalizations and associated hospitalization costs and alcohol-related deaths, during a 5-year period. FINDINGS: Short-term increases in alcohol consumption (increase-1 scenario) resulted in a loss of 79 000 [95% uncertainty interval (UI]) 26 000-201 000] LYs, a loss of 332 000 (104 000-604 000) QALYs and 295 000 (82 000-501 000) more alcohol-related hospitalizations, costing an additional $5.4 billion ($1.5-9.3 billion) over 5 years. Hospitalizations for cirrhosis of the liver accounted for approximately $3.0 billion ($0.9-4.8 billion) in hospitalization costs, more than half the increase across all alcohol-related conditions. Health and cost impacts were more pronounced for older age groups (51+), women and non-Hispanic black individuals. Increasing the duration of pandemic-driven increases in alcohol consumption in the increase-5 scenario resulted in larger impacts. CONCLUSIONS: Simulations show that if the increase in alcohol consumption observed in the United States in the first year of the pandemic continues, alcohol-related mortality, morbidity and associated costs will increase substantially over the next 5 years.

Modeling the impact of a long-term horizon and multiple treatment episodes on estimates of the cost-effectiveness of alcohol treatment in the United States.

BACKGROUND: Most clinical studies of alcohol use disorder (AUD) treatment have short follow-up periods, underestimating the full benefits of alcohol treatment. Furthermore, clinical studies only consider one treatment cycle and do not account for the need for multiple episodes to treat a chronic recurrent condition. METHODS: A validated microsimulation model of the long-term drinking patterns of people with AUD in the United States simulated 10,000 individuals resembling those from a large clinical trial. The model was used to assess the impact of (1) 1-year, 5-year, and lifetime horizon on alcohol treatment cost-effectiveness estimates and (2) no, one, two, four, and unlimited additional treatment episodes on alcohol treatment cost-effectiveness estimates. Model outcomes included healthcare costs, crime costs, labor market productivity, life expectancy, quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), alcohol-related hospitalizations, and deaths. Cost-effectiveness analyses were conducted for two perspectives: a healthcare perspective that included costs from hospitalization and AUD treatment, and a broader societal perspective that also included crime costs and productivity. RESULTS: The incremental cost per additional QALY gained for alcohol treatment compared with no treatment decreased from $55,590 after 1 year to $78 when healthcare costs and QALYs were tracked over the lifetime, that is, treatment became more cost effective. Treatment was cost saving for any time frame when the impacts on crime and labor productivity were also accounted for in a societal perspective. Access to multiple treatment episodes dominated (i.e., it was more effective and less costly) than no-treatment and one-episode scenarios. From a healthcare perspective, incremental costs per additional QALY for increasing from a maximum of two to four treatment episodes was $499 and from four to unlimited episodes was $5049. The unlimited treatment scenario dominated all others from a societal perspective. Results were robust in sensitivity analyses. CONCLUSIONS: A long-term perspective and multiple episodes of alcohol treatment improve cost-effectiveness estimates. When societal impacts are included, alcohol treatment is cost saving. Results support the value of alcohol treatment.

Development and validation of a claim-based provider-level measurement of use of medications to treat opioid use disorder.

OBJECTIVE: Medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) is effective but underused. Measuring the percentage of a provider's patients with an opioid use disorder (OUD) who receive MOUD may drive quality improvement and stimulate greater use of medications. This study introduces and tests a provider-level measure of MOUD receipt. METHODS: The study used claims and enrollment data from 32 states in the 2014 Medicaid Analytic Extract to measure the proportion of a provider's patients who received MOUD within 30 days of their OUD diagnosis. The research team assessed measure reliability with several tests to establish the effect of provider on MOUD receipt; and assessed the validity by correlation with a measure of emergency department visits or hospitalizations related to substance use. RESULTS: The sample included 434,484 individuals treated for OUD by one or more of 9398 providers. The mean provider score was 38 %, indicating that 38 % of the average provider's patients received an MOUD within 30 days of an OUD diagnosis (44 % for clinicians [N = 5344] and 31 % for facilities [N = 4054]). Provider performance varied considerably. The interquartile ranges were 11 %-79 % and 9 %-45 % among clinicians and facilities, respectively. The measure reliably distinguished between lower- and higher-performing providers and demonstrated convergent validity, as indicated by a significant and moderately sized negative correlation between MOUD receipt and substance use-related hospitalizations or emergency department visits. CONCLUSIONS: The measure may help to improve access to MOUD and OUD outcomes by identifying providers who could benefit from technical assistance, quality improvement initiatives, and resources to expand MOUD prescribing.

Discovery of active off-axis hydrothermal vents at 9° 54'N East Pacific Rise.

Comprehensive knowledge of the distribution of active hydrothermal vent fields along midocean ridges is essential to understanding global chemical and heat fluxes and endemic faunal distributions. However, current knowledge is biased by a historical preference for on-axis surveys. A scarcity of high-resolution bathymetric surveys in off-axis regions limits vent identification, which implies that the number of vents may be underestimated. Here, we present the discovery of an active, high-temperature, off-axis hydrothermal field on a fast-spreading ridge. The vent field is located 750 m east of the East Pacific Rise axis and ∼7 km north of on-axis vents at 9° 50'N, which are situated in a 50- to 100-m-wide trough. This site is currently the largest vent field known on the East Pacific Rise between 9 and 10° N. Its proximity to a normal fault suggests that hydrothermal fluid pathways are tectonically controlled. Geochemical evidence reveals deep fluid circulation to depths only 160 m above the axial magma lens. Relative to on-axis vents at 9° 50'N, these off-axis fluids attain higher temperatures and pressures. This tectonically controlled vent field may therefore exhibit greater stability in fluid composition, in contrast to more dynamic, dike-controlled, on-axis vents. The location of this site indicates that high-temperature convective circulation cells extend to greater distances off axis than previously realized. Thorough high-resolution mapping is necessary to understand the distribution, frequency, and physical controls on active off-axis vent fields so that their contribution to global heat and chemical fluxes and role in metacommunity dynamics can be determined.

Development, Testing, and Dissemination of a Public-Facing Tool to Help Consumers Find Higher-Quality Addiction Treatment.

OBJECTIVE: The authors aimed to describe the development and testing of quality measures included in a public-facing addiction treatment facility search engine. METHODS: An addiction treatment facility survey was created that queried providers in six U.S. states about whether they offered the services and used the processes identified by federal agencies and nonprofit organizations as signs of higher-quality addiction treatment. Four insurance claims-based quality measures were created to capture the percentage of a provider's patients with opioid use disorder receiving opioid use disorder medications, who filled prescriptions for such medication for at least 180 days, who received follow-up care after treatment for substance use disorder in inpatient or residential settings, or who had a substance use disorder-related hospitalization or emergency department visit. A patient experience-of-care survey captured patients' perceptions of the quality of the addiction treatment. The project was undertaken from November 2018 through July 2020. RESULTS: The authors tested the measures by using 1,245 facility surveys, 7,970 patients' experience-of-care surveys, and four claims-based measures submitted by 129, 136, 283, and 408 addiction treatment providers. Statistical testing demonstrated that the quality measures were reliable and valid. The quality measure scores varied among providers, capturing a wide performance range. A public website containing quality measures launched in July 2020 in the six states and has been accessed by thousands of consumers. CONCLUSIONS: This study developed valid, reliable, and useful addiction treatment quality measures. Dissemination of these measures may help consumers select among providers and help providers, policy makers, and payers improve quality.

Effect of increased alcohol consumption during COVID-19 pandemic on alcohol-associated liver disease: A modeling study.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Alcohol consumption increased during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 in the United States. We projected the effect of increased alcohol consumption on alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD) and mortality. APPROACH AND RESULTS: We extended a previously validated microsimulation model that estimated the short- and long-term effect of increased drinking during the COVID-19 pandemic in individuals in the United States born between 1920 and 2012. We modeled short- and long-term outcomes of current drinking patterns during COVID-19 (status quo) using survey data of changes in alcohol consumption in a nationally representative sample between February and November 2020. We compared these outcomes with a counterfactual scenario wherein no COVID-19 occurs and drinking patterns do not change. One-year increase in alcohol consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic is estimated to result in 8000 (95% uncertainty interval [UI], 7500-8600) additional ALD-related deaths, 18,700 (95% UI, 17,600-19,900) cases of decompensated cirrhosis, and 1000 (95% UI, 1000-1100) cases of HCC, and 8.9 million disability-adjusted life years between 2020 and 2040. Between 2020 and 2023, alcohol consumption changes due to COVID-19 will lead to 100 (100-200) additional deaths and 2800 (2700-2900) additional decompensated cirrhosis cases. A sustained increase in alcohol consumption for more than 1 year could result in additional morbidity and mortality. CONCLUSIONS: A short-term increase in alcohol consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic can substantially increase long-term ALD-related morbidity and mortality. Our findings highlight the need for individuals and policymakers to make informed decisions to mitigate the impact of high-risk alcohol drinking in the United States.

The Relationship Between Reductions in WHO Risk Drinking Levels During Treatment and Subsequent Healthcare Costs for the ACTIVE Workgroup.

BACKGROUND: Abstinence has historically been considered the target outcome for alcohol use disorder (AUD) treatment, yet recent work has found drinking reductions after AUD treatment, as measured by World Health Organization (WHO) risk drinking levels, are associated with meaningful improvements in functioning, physical health, and quality of life. OBJECTIVES: This study extends previous analyses of AUD treatment outcomes by estimating the association between changes in WHO risk drinking levels (very high, high, medium, and low, based on average daily alcohol consumption) and healthcare costs. METHODS: Secondary data analysis of the COMBINE study, a multisite randomized clinical trial of acamprosate, naltrexone and behavioral interventions for AUD. Generalized gamma regression models were used to estimate relationships between WHOrisk drinking level reductions over the course of treatment and healthcare costs in the year after treatment (N = 964) and up to 3 years following treatment (N = 651). RESULTS: SustainedWHOrisk drinking reductions of 2 or more levels throughout treatment were associated with 52.0% lower healthcare costs ( P < 0.001) in the year following treatment, and 44.0% lower costs ( P < 0.0025) over 3 years. A reduction of exactly 1 level was associated with 34.8% lower costs over 3 years, which was not significant ( P = 0.05). Cost reductions were driven by lower inpatient behavioral health and emergency department utilization. CONCLUSIONS: Reduction in WHO risk drinking levels of at least 2 levels was associated with lower healthcare costs over 1 and 3 years. Our results add to literature showing drinking reductions are associated with improvement in health.

SF-6D utility scores for alcohol use disorder status and alcohol consumption risk levels in the US population.

AIMS: To estimate US population health utilities for subgroups defined by alcohol use disorder (AUD) status and consumption level. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey. SETTING: Community settings in the United States (i.e. excluding institutional settings). PARTICIPANTS: A total of 36,042 adults (age 18+) in non-institutional settings in the United States. MEASUREMENTS: We used 12-item Short Form Survey (SF-12) data from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions-III to calculate mean Short Form-6 dimension (SF-6D) utility scores across World Health Organization alcohol consumption risk levels-very high risk, high risk, medium risk, low risk and an additional abstinent level-for three groups: (1) the general population (n = 36,042), (2) individuals with life-time AUD (n = 9925) and (3) individuals with current AUD (n = 5083), and assessed minimally important differences (MIDs) between consumption levels. Each group is a subset of the previous group. FINDINGS: The general population's mean SF-6D utility was higher than that of individuals with life-time or current AUD across all consumption risk levels (0.79 versus 0.76 for both AUD groups). For all groups, SF-6D utilities increased as consumption risk level decreased to non-abstinent levels, and reducing consumption from very high risk to any lower level was associated with a statistically significant and meaningful improvement in utility. For individuals with life-time or current AUD, becoming abstinent from high-, medium- and low-risk levels was associated with significantly and meaningfully worse utilities. CONCLUSIONS: Higher alcohol consumption risk levels appear to be associated with lower health index scores for the general population and individuals with a history of alcohol use disorder, meaning that higher alcohol consumption is associated with worse health-related quality of life.

Alcohol Consumption in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic in the United States.

OBJECTIVES: Excessive alcohol use is a serious and growing public health problem. Alcoholic beverage sales in the United States increased greatly immediately after the stay-at-home orders and relaxing of alcohol restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. However, it is not known to what degree alcohol consumption changed. This study assesses differences in alcohol drinking patterns before and after the enactment of stay-at-home orders. METHODS: In May 2020, a cross-sectional online survey of 993 individuals using a probability-based panel designed to be representative of the US population aged 21 and older was used to assess alcohol drinking patterns before (February, 2020) and after (April, 2020) the enactment of stay-at-home orders among those who consumed alcohol in February, 2020 (n = 555). Reported differences in alcohol consumption were computed, and associations between differences in consumption patterns and individual characteristics were examined. RESULTS: Compared to February, respondents reported consuming more drinks per day in April (+29%, P < 0.001), and a greater proportion reported exceeding recommended drinking limits (+20%, P < 0.001) and binge drinking (+21%, P = 0.001) in April. These differences were found for all sociodemographic subgroups assessed. February to April differences in the proportion exceeding drinking limits were larger for women than men (P = 0.026) and for Black, non-Hispanic people than White, non-Hispanic people (P = 0.028). CONCLUSIONS: There is an association among the COVID-19 pandemic, the public health response to it, changes in alcohol policy, and alcohol consumption. Public health monitoring of alcohol consumption during the pandemic is warranted.

Economic Evaluation of Interventions to Address Opioid Misuse: A Systematic Review of Methods Used in Simulation Modeling Studies.

OBJECTIVES: Several evidence-based interventions exist for people who misuse opioids, but there is limited guidance on optimal intervention selection. Economic evaluations using simulation modeling can guide the allocation of resources and help tackle the opioid crisis. This study reviews methods employed by economic evaluations using computer simulations to investigate the health and economic effects of interventions meant to address opioid misuse. METHODS: We conducted a systematic mapping review of studies that used simulation modeling to support the economic evaluation of interventions targeting prevention, treatment, or management of opioid misuse or its direct consequences (ie, overdose). We searched 6 databases and extracted information on study population, interventions, costs, outcomes, and economic analysis and modeling approaches. RESULTS: Eighteen studies met the inclusion criteria. All of the studies considered only one segment of the continuum of care. Of the studies, 13 evaluated medications for opioid use disorder, and 5 evaluated naloxone distribution programs to reduce overdose deaths. Most studies estimated incremental cost per quality-adjusted life-years and used health system and/or societal perspectives. Models were decision trees (n = 4), Markov (n = 10) or semi-Markov models (n = 3), and microsimulations (n = 1). All of the studies assessed parameter uncertainty though deterministic and/or probabilistic sensitivity analysis, 4 conducted formal calibration, only 2 assessed structural uncertainty, and only 1 conducted expected value of information analyses. Only 10 studies conducted validation. CONCLUSIONS: Future economic evaluations should consider synergies between interventions and examine combinations of interventions to inform optimal policy response. They should also more consistently conduct model validation and assess the value of further research.

The impact of the abuse-deterrent reformulation of extended-release OxyContin on prescription pain reliever misuse and heroin initiation.

The introduction of abuse-deterrent OxyContin in 2010 was intended to reduce its misuse by making it more tamper resistant. However, some studies have suggested that this reformulation might have had unintended consequences, such as increases in heroin-related deaths. We used the 2005-2014 cross-sectional U.S. National Survey on Drug Use and Health to explore the impact of this reformulation on intermediate outcomes that precede heroin-related deaths for individuals with a history of OxyContin misuse. Our study sample consisted of adults who misused any prescription pain reliever prior to the reformulation of OxyContin (n = 81,400). Those who misused OxyContin prior to the reformulation were considered the exposed group and those who misused other prescription pain relievers prior to the reformulation were considered the unexposed group. We employed multivariate logistic regression under a difference-in-differences framework to examine the effect of the reformulation on five dichotomous outcomes: prescription pain reliever misuse; prescription pain reliever use disorder; heroin use; heroin use disorder; and heroin initiation. We found a net reduction in the odds of prescription pain reliever misuse (OR:0.791, p < 0.001) and heroin initiation (OR:0.422, p = 0.011) after the reformulation for the exposed group relative to the unexposed group. We found no statistically significant effects of the reformulation on prescription pain reliever use disorder (OR: 0.934, p = 0.524), heroin use (OR: 1.014p = 0.941), and heroin use disorder (OR: 1.063, p = 0.804). Thus, the reformulation of OxyContin appears to have reduced prescription pain reliever misuse without contributing to relatively greater new heroin use among those who misused OxyContin prior to the reformulation.

Estimating Long-Term Drinking Patterns for People with Lifetime Alcohol Use Disorder.

Background. There is a lack of data on alcohol consumption over time. This study characterizes the long-term drinking patterns of people with lifetime alcohol use disorders who have engaged in treatment or informal care. Methods. We developed multinomial logit models using the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) to estimate short-term transition probabilities (TPs) among the 4 World Health Organization drinking risk levels (low, medium, high, and very high risk) and abstinence by age, sex, and race/ethnicity. We applied an optimization algorithm to convert 3-year TPs from NESARC to 1-year TPs, then used simulated annealing to calibrate TPs to a propensity-scored matched set of participants derived from a separate 16-year study of alcohol consumption. We validated the resulting long-term TPs using NESARC-III, a cross-sectional study conducted on a different cohort. Results. Across 24 demographic groups, the 1-year probability of remaining in the same state averaged 0.93, 0.81, 0.49, 0.51, and 0.63 for abstinent, low, medium, high, and very high-risk states, respectively. After calibration to the 16-year study data (N = 420), resulting TPs produced state distributions that hit the calibration target. We find that the abstinent or low-risk states are very stable, and the annual probability of leaving the very high-risk state increases by about 20 percentage points beyond 8 years. Limitations. TPs for some demographic groups had small cell sizes. The data used to calibrate long-term TPs are based on a geographically narrow study. Conclusions. This study is the first to characterize long-term drinking patterns by combining short-term representative data with long-term data on drinking behaviors. Current research is using these patterns to estimate the long-term cost effectiveness of alcohol treatment.

Substance use disorder treatment admissions and state-level prenatal substance use policies: Evidence from a national treatment database.

State policies pertaining to prenatal substance use have important implications for health outcomes of pregnant women and their infants. However, little is known about the impact of the various types of state-level prenatal substance use policies (i.e., treatment and supportive services; criminal justice initiatives; and health care provider reporting requirements) on substance use disorder treatment admissions. Using data from the 2002-2014 Treatment Episode Data Set - Admissions, we exploited state-level variation in the implementation of different types of policies to assess their impact on pregnant women's admission to substance use disorder treatment. The study found that state-level prenatal substance use policies focused only on the criminal justice sector were negatively associated with the proportion of women of reproductive age who were pregnant upon admission to treatment. Additionally, the implementation of policies that engaged all three sectors was positively associated with the proportion of women of reproductive age who were pregnant upon admission to treatment. These results were consistent across age groups and for both non-Hispanic white women and women of other racial/ethnic groups. The findings imply that states with cross-sector policy engagement around prenatal substance use and policies that take a multifaceted, comprehensive approach are more likely to see an increase in admissions to substance use disorder treatment during pregnancy.

Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment in the Emergency Department: An Examination of Health Care Utilization and Costs.

BACKGROUND: There is increasing interest in deploying screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) practices in emergency departments (ED) to intervene with patients at risk for substance use disorders. However, the current literature is inconclusive on whether SBIRT practices are effective in reducing costs and utilization. OBJECTIVE: This study sought to evaluate the health care costs and health care utilization associated with SBIRT services in the ED. RESEARCH DESIGN: This study analyzed downstream health care utilization and costs for patients who were exposed to SBIRT services within an Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, ED through a program titled Safe Landing compared with 3 control groups of ED patients (intervention hospital preintervention, and preintervention and postintervention time period at a comparable, nonintervention hospital). SUBJECTS: The subjects were patients who received ED SBIRT services from January 1 to December 31 in 2012 as part of the Safe Landing program. One control group received ED services at the same hospital during a previous year. Two other control groups were patients who received ED services at another comparable hospital. MEASURES: Measures include total health care costs, 30-day ED visits, 1-year ED visits, inpatient claims, and behavioral health claims. RESULTS: Results found that patients who received SBIRT services experienced a 21% reduction in health care costs and a significant reduction in 1-year ED visits (decrease of 3.3 percentage points). CONCLUSIONS: This study provides further support that SBIRT programs are cost-effective and cost-beneficial approaches to substance use disorders management, important factors as policy advocates continue to disseminate SBIRT practices throughout the health care system.

Cost and Return on Investment of a Work-Family Intervention in the Extended Care Industry: Evidence From the Work, Family, and Health Network.

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the cost and return on investment (ROI) of an intervention targeting work-family conflict (WFC) in the extended care industry. METHODS: Costs to deliver the intervention during a group-randomized controlled trial were estimated, and data on organizational costs-presenteeism, health care costs, voluntary termination, and sick time-were collected from interviews and administrative data. Generalized linear models were used to estimate the intervention's impact on organizational costs. Combined, these results produced ROI estimates. A cluster-robust confidence interval (CI) was estimated around the ROI estimate. RESULTS: The per-participant cost of the intervention was $767. The ROI was -1.54 (95% CI: -4.31 to 2.18). The intervention was associated with a $668 reduction in health care costs (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: This paper builds upon and expands prior ROI estimation methods to a new setting.