With funding support from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), AcademyHealth’s Evidence-Informed State Health Policy Institute and the University of Pittsburgh will leverage 12 university research partnerships of the Medicaid Outcomes Distributed Research Network (MODRN) to examine the role of place, providers, plans, and policies in driving variation in access to medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD).
Differences in access to medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) are stark – While the overdose rates for Black and Hispanic individuals have risen nearly twice as fast as compared to White individuals, Black and Hispanic individuals far less likely to receive MOUD and other overdose prevention services. As the largest single payer for MOUD, Medicaid is well-positioned to narrow gaps in MOUD access.
With support from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), the Medicaid Outcomes Distributed Research Network (MODRN) will inform Medicaid policy development by examining the role of place, providers, plans, and policies in driving variation in MOUD access, building upon existing work studying the quality of opioid use disorder treatment in Medicaid. This MODRN project is made up of university partnerships with Medicaid agencies in 12 states representing 24 percent of all U.S. Medicaid enrollees that vary in Medicaid policy. This research will use geospatial analyses, multi-level modeling, and difference-in-difference analyses to accomplish these specific aims.