Medicaid prescription cap policies and acute care use and mortality among enrollees with opioid use disorder.

Background: Twelve state Medicaid programs limit the monthly number of covered prescriptions. Such cap policies may force enrollees to forego essential medications with important health consequences. We aimed to determine the impact of cap policies on acute care use and all-cause mortality among enrollees with opioid use disorder (OUD).

Association of state medicaid prescription cap policies with trajectories of buprenorphine use for opioid use disorder.

Background: Buprenorphine and other medications for opioid use disorder (OUD) can reduce opioid-related morbidity and mortality. It is unknown whether state Medicaid prescription cap policies that restrict the monthly number of covered prescription fills affect the duration of buprenorphine use.

Objective: To identify trajectories of buprenorphine use and determine the association of caps with trajectory group membership among individuals with OUD.

Trends and Disparities in the Use of Opioid, Gabapentinoid, and Nonpharmacologic Pain Therapies Among Medicare Beneficiaries With Acute Low Back Pain, 2016-2019.

Contemporary practice guidelines recommend nonpharmacologic therapies instead of prescription opioids as first-line treatment for many pain types, including acute low back pain (aLBP). This serial cross-sectional study describes trends in the annual prevalence of physical therapy (PT), chiropractic care, gabapentinoids, and prescription opioid receipt among Medicare beneficiaries diagnosed with aLBP from 2016 to 2019, overall and within key demographic, clinical, and geographic subgroups. Overall, changes in PT (5.

Integrating Implementation Outcomes into Effectiveness Studies: A Practical Guide for Clinical Interventionists.

Designing effectiveness studies with implementation in mind can allow interventionists to translate their research into real-world practice. Implementation outcomes measure how much and how well a particular intervention was implemented and can provide valuable insights into any heterogeneity in effectiveness outcomes. As part of the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) Helping to End Addiction Long-term® (HEAL) Initiative's Data2Action program, a workgroup of the Research Adoption Support Center (RASC) was tasked with creating a resource guide to aid clinical interventionists in integrating implementation outcomes into their research plans.

Association of Pharmacologic and Nonpharmacologic Management of Acute Low Back Pain with Overdose Hospitalizations: A Nested Case-Control Study.

Noninvasive nonpharmacologic therapies are recommended for managing acute low back pain (aLBP) and have the potential to mitigate opioid-related harms. However, little is known about whether incorporating nonpharmacologic therapies into aLBP management affects adverse outcomes. The objective was to determine if receiving nonpharmacologic pain therapies, alone or combined with pharmacologic options, is associated with drug-related overdose hospitalizations among Medicare beneficiaries with aLBP.

Readmissions and Mortality After "Before Medically Advised" Hospital Discharges Among Medicare Beneficiaries with Opioid Use Disorder.

Background: "Before medically advised" (BMA) discharges are rising among hospitalized people with opioid use disorder (OUD) and associated with worse outcomes. However, little is known about BMA discharge among the growing share of U.S.