Penn LDI is collaborating with researchers and policymakers throughout the country to identify evidence-based, sustainable, and effective solutions to combat the nation’s unprecedented opioid epidemic. LDI Senior Fellows and staff regularly produce research and policy briefs, blogs, and publications, as well as convene key stakeholders all towards the goal of addressing treatment, harm reduction, and the social determinants of health that are driving the opioid epidemic. Explore some of our ongoing work and publications below, and click here to see more current work.

Center for Health Economics of Treatment Interventions for Substance Use Disorder, HCV, and HIV (CHERISH), a National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)-funded Center of Excellence. LDI is home to the Dissemination and Policy Core of CHERISH and supports center researchers in employing state-of-the-art dissemination practices to increase visibility and impact of research among policy makers and the public.

The REDUCE Trial

A $600,000 grant awarded to Amol Navathe and Mitesh Patel to study potential ways to reduce physicians’ opioid prescribing using behavioral science.

The LIFE STORRIED Trial

LDI Senior Fellow Zachary Meisel, MD, received a $2.1 million award to fund a  comparative effectiveness study of enhanced opioid risk communication strategies for pain management following acute care.
 

Penn LDI Opioid  Workgroup  

This workgroup brings together substance use disorder researchers from various disciplines across Penn to foster dialogue and advance evidence-based approached to address the opioid crisis in Philadelphia. 

Association Between Electronic Medical Record Implementation of Default Opioid Prescription Quantities and Prescribing Behavior in Two Emergency Departments

Default options may "nudge" clinicians to prescribe fewer opioids

Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs: Evolution and Evidence

Important Tools Against the Opioid Epidemic

Primary Care: On the Front Lines of the Opioid Crisis

Primary Care Providers Have a Continuum of Opioid Treatments in Their Arsenal

Show Me the Money: Economic Evaluations of Opioid Use Disorder Interventions

Strong Economic Evidence Supports Use of Methadone Maintenance Therapy

Click Worthy: Stories Encourage Emergency Physicians to Learn More About Opioid Prescribing Guidelines

Narrative Vignettes Outperform Standard Summaries in Promoting Engagement

Cost-effective Screening and Treatment of Hepatitis C

The case for universal, one-time screening

Addressing Gaps in Evidence-Based Opioid Policy and Practice

Leonard Davis Institute and CHERISH Bring Stakeholders Together

Substituting Heroin for Prescription Opioids

An unintended consequence of well-intentioned policy

Two Promising Steps Toward Addressing the Opioid Epidemic

The nation responds

How Bad Is Opioid Misuse? Most Of Us Think It’s Really Bad

Public Thinks Opioid Misuse Can Be As "Bad" As Cancer, CHERISH Researchers Find

Why It’s Easier to be Prescribed an Opioid Painkiller than the Treatment for Opioid Addiction

RWJF Clinical Scholars Propose Policy Solutions

The Other Opioid Crisis

People In Poor Countries Can't Get The Pain Medication They Need

Dentists Tackle Opioid Epidemic

A three-pronged strategy

Medicaid Expansion and the Opioid Epidemic

New evidence that expansion reduces overdose mortality and increases treatment access

Pain Medicine, March 2018, Marcus A Bachhuber, Brendan Saloner, Marc LaRochelle, Jessica S Merlin, Brandon C Maughan, Dan Polsky, Naum Shaparin, Sean M Murphy

The Short- and Long-run Effects of Smoking Cessation on Alcohol Consumption
International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Dec, 2017, Benjamin Ukert

Treatment Seeking as a Mechanism of Change in a Randomized Controlled Trial of a Mobile Health Intervention to Support Recovery from Alcohol Use Disorders
Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, July 2017, Joseph E. Glass, James R. McKay, David H. Gustafson, Rachel Kornfield, Paul J. Rathouz, Fiona M. McTavish, Amy K. Atwood, Andrew Isham, Andrew Quanbeck, Dhavan Shah

Financial Incentives for Adherence to Hepatitis C Virus Clinical Care and Treatment: A Randomized Trial of Two Strategies
Open Forum Infectious Diseases, June 2017, David A. Wohl, Andrew G. Allmon, Donna Evon, Christopher Hurt, Sarah Ailleen Reifeis, Harsha Thirumurthy, Becky Straub, Angela Edwards, Katie R. Mollan

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