Studies in the Area of Opioid Crisis Reported from Brandeis University (The Role of Health Plans In Addressing the Opioid Crisis: a Qualitative Study): Opioids – Opioid Crisis

2023 NOV 02 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Health Policy and Law Daily -- Investigators publish new report on Opioids - Opioid Crisis. According to news originating from Waltham, Massachusetts, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “Health plans are key players in substance use treatment in the United States, and the opioid crisis presents new challenges for them. This article is part of the HEALing Communities Study (HCS) funded by NIH, which seeks to facilitate communities’ adoption of activities that might reduce overdose deaths, including overdose prevention education and naloxone distribution, medication for opioid use disorder, and safer opioid prescribing.”

Financial support for this research came from National Institutes of Health (NIH) - USA.

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from Brandeis University, “We examine how health plans in one state (Massachusetts) are adapting to encourage and sustain activities that help communities to address opioid use disorder (OUD). We conducted semi-structured interviews with managers of behavioral health services at eight health plans in Massachusetts that that have Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial lines of business. Two plans in this sample contract with a specialized behavioral health organization (‘carve-out’). The interviewees also completed a survey on policies regarding access to treatment and opioid prescribing. Interviews were recorded and transcribed and analyzed using thematic analysis. Analysis of the data included intended influence of the policies at three levels: member level (micro), group or community level (meso), and system or institutional level (macro). All health plans developed strategies to increase access to treatment for OUD, primarily through eliminating or decreasing cost-sharing, eliminating pre-authorization for MOUD, and increasing supply of providers. Health plans encourage qualified practitioners to offer MOUD, but most do not provide incentives or training. Identifying high risk populations is a focus of health plans in this sample. Naloxone is a covered benefit in all health plans, although with variation in monthly limits and cost-sharing. Most health plans take measures to influence opioid prescribing. Health plans’ activities are predominately aimed at the micro (member) level with little ability to influence at the macro (wider system-level changes). This study provides insight into how health plans develop strategies to address the rise in OUD and fatal opioid overdoses, many of which are key in the HCS initiative.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “How active a role health plans play in addressing the opioid crisis varies, even within the insurance industry in one state (Massachusetts).”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: The Role of Health Plans In Addressing the Opioid Crisis: a Qualitative Study. Journal of Substance Use & Addiction Treatment, 2023;149. Journal of Substance Use & Addiction Treatment can be contacted at: Elsevier Science Inc, Ste 800, 230 Park Ave, New York, NY 10169, USA.

The news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained from Margot Trotter Davis, Brandeis University, Institute for Behavioral Health, Schneider Institutes for Health Policy, Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Waltham, MA, United States. Additional authors for this research include Robert Bohler, Dominic Hodgkin, Constance Horgan and Greer Hamilton.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.josat.2023.209022. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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