# Researching Effective Strategies to Prevent Opioid Death (RESPOND)

> **NIH NIH R01** · BOSTON MEDICAL CENTER · 2020 · $716,684

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
The misuse of and addiction to opioids is an epidemic in the U.S. that now reduces U.S. life expectancy.
Overdose is the leading cause of premature death among Americans under the age of 50. More than 2 million
Americans struggle with an opioid use disorder (OUD). Buprenorphine-naloxone, naltrexone, and methadone
are all FDA-approved medications for OUD (MOUDs) that decrease opioid use and mortality and are the gold-
standard of care. At this time, however, fewer than 20% of patients with OUD receive those treatments. We do
not have a functioning system to treat OUD. Innovation to the way that we deliver OUD treatment could provide
the OUD care we now need. Our team works with colleagues at Massachusetts Department of Public Health to
investigate the OUD epidemic in MA and also recently convened a national stakeholder conference to identify
feasible action plans for the OUD epidemic. What is clear is that state policy makers seek evidence to inform
system-level change. System-level thinking investigates how systems operate and how they can be modified to
produce desired outcomes. At this time, system-level data about OUD treatment are very limited and
inconsistent. Simulation models integrate data from multiple sources to translate outcomes from clinical studies
to policy-relevant data about population health and cost. A model that simulates the population with OUD in a
state can be used to investigate delivery system innovations and project the impact on public health outcomes
and cost and will be invaluable in the fight against OUD. Our goal is to inform state-level innovation for low-
barrier access to MOUDs. Our objective is a five-year research program, Researching Effective Strategies to
Prevent Opioid Death (RESPOND), that will develop a simulation model of OUD treatment and use it to inform
system-level change. Our specific aims are: Aim 1: To develop and validate a state-level, population simulation
model of OUD treatment and OUD care delivery. To build the simulation, we will leverage the MA “chapter 55”
dataset, a first-in-the-nation administrative records registry to study OUD. Aim 2: To develop priorities for
delivering low-barrier access to MOUDs and identify epidemiologic and economic factors that should drive
priorities at the state-level. We will investigate the benefits and cost of six models for implementing low-barrier
access to MOUDs. We will identify innovations that provide the greatest benefit given available resources, and
thereby develop priorities for policy. Aim 3: To simulate state-level regulations that govern insurance coverage
for MOUDs to investigate how regulatory change could be coupled to innovation in OUD care delivery. We will
simulate changes including requiring payers to reimburse MOUD treatment, prohibiting cost-sharing, and
eliminating prior-authorization. Our team assembles national leaders in addiction medicine, simulation
modeling, healthcare policy, and health economics to apply the po...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9891990
- **Project number:** 5R01DA046527-03
- **Recipient organization:** BOSTON MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Benjamin P. Linas
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $716,684
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-06-01 → 2023-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9891990

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9891990, Researching Effective Strategies to Prevent Opioid Death (RESPOND) (5R01DA046527-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-21 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9891990. Licensed CC0.

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