A national effort to reduce opioid-related overdose deaths has laid the groundwork for more widely available opioid use disorder treatment, safer prescribing practices, and community-based overdose education and naloxone distribution that can save lives, according to researchers who led Ohio’s participation in the initiative.
Launched in 2019, the ) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration through the NIH HEAL Initiative.
A $65.9 million NIH award funding Ohio State’s leadership of the Ohio portion of the study was housed in the university’s College of Medicine. Additional sites funded to conduct implementation research within communities in their state were the University of Kentucky, Lexington; Boston Medical Center, Boston; and Columbia University, New York City. RTI International, based in North Carolina, received an award to serve as the study’s data coordinating center.
