Caring for Disadvantaged Patients: What Nurses Say Works—and What Doesn’t
LDI Fellows Uncover Six Key Barriers and Solutions to Achieving Better Hospital Care
Substance Use Disorder
Blog Post
Chart of the Day: Rise in Patients with Opioid Use Disorder Leaving Hospital Prematurely
Untreated Withdrawal May Be the Cause, Researchers Say
Print:
LDI Senior and Associate Fellows Ashish Thakrar, Margaret (Maggie) Lowenstein, Ryan Greysen, and M. Kit Delgado found that more people with opioid use disorder are leaving the hospital prematurely (or before medically advised), compared to marginal increases for individuals admitted for other reasons. In the study, “Trends in Before Medically Advised Discharges for Patients with Opioid Use Disorder, 2016-2020,” the authors note that “patients who use drugs cite untreated withdrawal and pain as primary reasons for before medically advised discharge.” They suggest a need to study whether implementing methadone and buprenorphine treatment and adapting opioid withdrawal treatment for fentanyl withdrawal may help lower rates of premature discharges.
The study, “Trends in Before Medically Advised Discharges for Patients with Opioid Use Disorder, 2016-2020,” was published in December 2023 in JAMA. Authors include Ashish Thakrar, Margaret (Maggie) Lowenstein, Ryan Greysen, and M. Kit Delgado.
Author
Mackenzie Bolas
Policy Coordinator
More on the Opioid Epidemic
AI Breakthrough May Transform Public Health Campaigns
This Social Media Tool to Fight HIV Could Be Scaled up to Help Local Health Officials, LDI Experts Say
One Year, One Enrollment: Continuous Medicaid Eligibility Matters for Kids’ Health
New Findings Highlight the Value of 12-Month Eligibility in Reducing Care Gaps and Paperwork Burdens
Incarcerated Patients May Not Receive the Surgical Care They Need
The Prison System Often Fails to Meet Even Basic Standards for Pre- and Post-Operative Health, Experts Say
Integrated Medicare Advantage Plans Cut Dropout Rates for Dual-Eligible Individuals
Chart of the Day: Fully Integrated D-SNPs Kept These Vulnerable Patients Enrolled, a New Study Finds
Penn Medicine’s LeadIN Program Trains Philly Teens to Green Their Neighborhoods
Photo & Text Story of an Urban Health Lab Initiative to Improve Health and Community Stability