# MassHEAL - Reducing overdose deaths by 40% (2019-2023)

> **NIH NIH UM1** · BOSTON MEDICAL CENTER · 2022 · $67,800

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Rates of opioid overdose (OD) deaths have risen drastically in the US over the last decade; Massachusetts
(MA) is one of the hardest hit states, ranking 7th in age-adjusted OD death rate. Clinical care innovations have
led to effective interventions; unfortunately, these innovations have not become standard in many MA
communities. Using the Communities That Care (CTC) model, MassHEAL experts and community
stakeholders will utilize a data-driven approach to identify and narrow service gaps to tailor and implement a
suite of programs to reduce OD deaths in MA by 40% in 3 years. Key components will include identifying
people with opioid use disorder (OUD); providing OD risk reduction; and accelerating access to low-threshold
initiation of medications for OUD (MOUD) for high-risk individuals during hospitalization, incarceration, and
opioid detoxification. Sixteen highly impacted communities have been identified across MA. MassHEAL will
use a cluster-randomized parallel group design with communities randomized 1:1 to the intervention arm
(office-based addiction treatment [OBAT] PLUS external facilitation for communities to select from a menu of
programs and strategies, n=8) vs. a control arm (OBAT only, n=8). The MA Public Health Data (PHD)
Warehouse, which links individual-level data from more than a dozen state agencies, is a unique resource
available only in MA permitting pragmatic assessment of community- and individual-level outcomes. The
MassHEAL team exemplifies the multi-disciplinary expertise and collaborative experience necessary to
execute this study successfully. It includes clinicians who specialize in safer opioid prescribing and treatment of
OUD and have developed many of the programs proposed. This clinical team is complemented with health
services researchers, public health professionals, biostatisticians, community engagement specialists,
implementation scientists, and health economists in order to evaluate the intervention comprehensively. Using
principles of community-based participatory research (CBPR), MassHEAL has established a Community
Advisory Board that will support effective community–academic partnerships. The Specific Aims are: 1) employ
community engagement principles to develop and implement tailored clinical, prevention, and communication
strategies in MassHEAL intervention communities; 2) determine the impact of the MassHEAL intervention on
opioid OD deaths and other outcomes; 3) measure the impact of external facilitation on communities' success
implementing an OUD prevention and treatment intervention; and 4) estimate the value of the MassHEAL
community intervention relative to standard of care. MassHEAL will implement and assess a menu of
evidence-based programs to reduce opioid OD deaths in highly impacted communities across MA. Results of
this study will inform the broad dissemination and implementation of innovative medical and public health
strategies to achieve the aims of the HEALing...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10609256
- **Project number:** 3UM1DA049412-04S1
- **Recipient organization:** BOSTON MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** JEFFREY H. SAMET
- **Activity code:** UM1 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $67,800
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2019-04-17 → 2024-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10609256

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10609256, MassHEAL - Reducing overdose deaths by 40% (2019-2023) (3UM1DA049412-04S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10609256. Licensed CC0.

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