This is an article in the Health Affairs Blog that summarizes national and state strategies to address the opioid crisis and describe further reforms needed to tailor these efforts to teens and young adults, mostly related to payment and delivery reform. 

This report from Johns Hopkins contains specific, proven recommendations for how to most effectively combat the opioid crisis –from allowing physicians to more effectively treat those suffering from addiction; to expanding coverage and accessibility of opioid overdose reversal drugs like naloxone; to changing the way that health care professionals, employers, and advocates talk about addiction to reduce stigma.

This brief from the State Health Access Data Assistance Center examines the United States opioid crisis, analyzing trends in overdose deaths from heroin and other opioids, such as prescription painkillers. Using vital statistics data, it also looks at differences in opioid deaths by age, sex, race/ethnicity and urbanization.

This is a report from the National Interoperability Collaborative (NIC) that provides eleven recommendations targeted at preventing opioid use disorder (OUD) overdose death. Several of these include addressing trauma, cutting down on the supply of prescription and illicit opioids, and treating OUD in the criminal justice system.

Each recommendation is followed by examples already implemented and helpful resources. The overall aim of the report is to encourage communities to move upstream in their response to the opioid crisis. 

This is an article from the Harvard Political Review that describes the impact of the opioid crisis on Hispanic/Latinx communities. Several culturally competent interventions are discussed. 

This report consists of four educational webcasts aimed towards educating healthcare professionals. These webcasts are focused on the stigma, discriminatory practices, and inaccurate perceptions present in dealing with individuals with substance use disorder and other similar conditions. They also emphasize the importance of acknowledging these issues in order to provide better quality recovery services. 

This academic paper provides an overview of the evolution of the opioid crisis framed as an epidemic of opioid addiction through overprescribing. Prevention strategies are discussed across three levels: preventing new cases of opioid addiction (primary prevention), identifying early cases of opioid addiction (secondary prevention), and ensuring access to effective addiction treatment (tertiary prevention).

This is a 2015 report compiled by a multidisciplinary team focused on addressing the opioid crisis using three guiding principles: informing action with evidence, intervening comprehensively, and promoting appropriate and safe use of prescription opioids.

This is a comprehensive report that lays out the 56 recommendations made by the commission appointed by the Trump Administration to address the opioid crisis. After giving an overview of the opioid crisis and its wide-ranging impact, recommendations are made in the areas of federal funding, research, opioid addiction and overdose prevention, treatment, and recovery. 

This is a report from the National Safety Council that examines how strong employee policies, alliances with health benefits and workers’ compensation plan providers, education, expanded drug-free workplace testing, and access to treatment programs can proactively address opioid misuse in the workplace. 

This is an academic paper that analyzes stakeholder interviews to explore strategies to sustain time-limited opioid grants and determine barriers and facilitators. Financing and reimbursement, service integration, and workforce capacity were the most cited barriers, and status in state government structure, public support, and spending flexibility were noted as key facilitators. Strong partnerships were highlighted as essential components in strategies.  

This is a policy brief from the Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts that provides best practices for delivering medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) in correctional settings during the coronavirus pandemic and highlights modifications undertaken in these settings from three different states.