Journal of substance abuse treatment
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J Subst Abuse Treat · Feb 2013
Opioid overdose prevention with intranasal naloxone among people who take methadone.
Overdose education and naloxone distribution (OEND) is an intervention that addresses overdose, but has not been studied among people who take methadone, a drug involved in increasing numbers of overdoses. This study describes the implementation of OEND among people taking methadone in the previous 30 days in various settings in Massachusetts. From 2008 to 2010, 1553 participants received OEND who had taken methadone in the past 30 days. ⋯ Participants reported 92 overdose rescues. OEND programs are public health interventions that address overdose risk among people who take methadone and their social networks. OEND programs can be implemented in MMTPs, detoxification programs, and HIV prevention programs.
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J Subst Abuse Treat · Feb 2013
Community hospital admission from the emergency department by persons with substance use disorders.
Persons with a substance use disorder (SUD) are less likely to be insured and may have limited access to appropriate care, thereby increasing their reliance on emergency departments (EDs). We investigated whether health conditions and insurance status are significant predictors of admission to a community hospital directly from an ED visit with an SUD diagnosis. We analyzed the 2008 Nationwide Emergency Department Sample of the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project. ⋯ Using regression analysis, most SUD and non-SUD diagnostic categories and many procedure categories were significantly related to subsequent hospital admission. Controlling for clinical characteristics, SUD-related ED visits covered by public or private insurance had substantially higher odds of leading to hospital admission than did uninsured visits. Policies that broaden insurance coverage may improve access to inpatient care for persons with SUDs.