# Better Together: Integrating MOUD in African American Community Settings

> **NIH NIH UG1** · UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO · 2023 · $297,166

## Abstract

Racial disparities in engagement and retention in treatment with medication treatment for opioid use disorder
(MOUD) are profound and persistent and have devastating consequences. Black/African American persons
have experienced the fastest increases in opioid overdose deaths nationally since 2013 and now have higher
rates of overdose deaths than whites [1,2]. COVID-19 has accelerated overdose deaths especially among
Black/African Americans: during 2020, the number of Black persons dying from an opioid overdose increased
by 45% compared to the previous year, nearly double the increase for white overdose deaths [3]. Despite the
great need for MOUD, Black/African Americans are substantially less likely than whites to receive MOUD,
especially buprenorphine, and have substantially lower rates of MOUD treatment retention [4-8]. These
differences in MOUD treatment engagement and retention persist even when controlling for socioeconomic
factors and despite reducing barriers to MOUD (e.g., expanding Medicaid eligibility, eliminating co-pays or prior
authorization requirements) and increasing its availability in a broad range of medical settings (e.g., medical
offices, clinics, federally qualified health centers, and Emergency Departments) [8-13]. Our own and others’
research identify that stigma, medical mistrust, fear of legal consequences, and bias and misunderstanding
about MOUD contribute to underutilization of MOUD in Black/African American populations [14-17]. To address
these barriers, outreach, engagement, and reengagement by community-based Peer Recovery Specialists
(PRS, trained individuals with shared lived experience of SUD recovery), providing MOUD in a broader range
of settings and by telemedicine, and a collaborative care model integrating provision of substance use disorder
treatment generally or MOUD with buprenorphine (supported by telemedicine) in trusted, community sites,
including churches or faith-based or secular community organizations, have been found to be feasible and
attractive to Black/African American persons with untreated OUD [18-26]. Additional research is needed,
however, to evaluate barriers and facilitators for implementation of a collaborative care model integrating
provision of MOUD with buprenorphine and provision of PRS services in community-based sites and to
evaluate the effectiveness of this MOUD care model compared to MOUD with buprenorphine provided in
medical offices or clinics for urban Black/African Americans with OUD.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10781200
- **Project number:** 3UG1DA049467-05S1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO
- **Principal Investigator:** Niranjan Subhash Karnik
- **Activity code:** UG1 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2023
- **Award amount:** $297,166
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2022-03-10 → 2024-02-29

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10781200

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10781200, Better Together: Integrating MOUD in African American Community Settings (3UG1DA049467-05S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10781200. Licensed CC0.

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