• Fortney JC, Ratzliff AD, Blanchard BE, Johnson M, Ferro L, Austin EJ, Williams EC, Duncan MH, Merrill JO, Thomas J, Kitay B, Schoenbaum M, Heagerty PJ, Saxon AJ. Does Screening for Opioid Use Disorder in Primary Care Increase the Percentage of Patients With a New Diagnosis? Annals of internal medicine. 2023 Oct 1; 176(10):1431-1433.
• Frost MC, Malte CA, Hawkins EJ, Glass JE, Hallgren KA, Williams EC. Impact of an intervention to implement provision of opioid use disorder medication among patients with and without co-occurring substance use disorders. Journal of substance use and addiction treatment. 2023 Sep 24; 209175.
• Miller WA, Gordon AJ, Clothier BA, Ackland PE, Bounthavong M, Garcia C, Kenny ME, Noorbaloochi S, Hagedorn HJ. Co-occurring implementation strategies: The effects of academic detailing for opioid use disorder campaign on the advancing pharmacological treatments for opioid use disorder (ADaPT-OUD) study. Implementation research and practice. 2023 Sep 14; 4:26334895231199463.
• Austin EJ, O'Brien QE, Ruiz MS, Ratzliff AD, Williams EC, Koch U. Patient and Provider Perspectives on Processes of Engagement in Outpatient Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder: A Scoping Review. Community mental health journal. 2023 Sep 5.
• Wang K, Fenton BT, Skanderson M, Black AC, Becker WC, Seng EK, Anthony SE, Guirguis AB, Altalib HH, Kimber A, Lorenze N, Scholten JD, Graham GD, Sandbrink F, Sico JJ. Changes in opioid prescribing in veterans with headache during the COVID-19 pandemic: A regression discontinuity in time analysis. Headache. 2023 Oct 1; 63(9):1295-1303.

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• Giving Veterans an Active Voice in Creating a Veteran-Centered Chronic Pain Research Agenda
  Veterans Action League (VAL) 2.0 was a two-year community engagement project (2019–2021) that sought to develop a national Veteran-centered chronic pain research agenda that includes Veteran-generated recommendations for chronic pain management and chronic pain research priorities. Findings showed that Veterans’ most frequently cited need for chronic pain management and treatment was better access...
  
  Date: March 23, 2023
• VA Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder was Maintained During the COVID Pandemic Through Rapid Shift to Telehealth
  At the beginning of the COVID pandemic, key federal policy changes were implemented to decrease barriers to telehealth-delivery of buprenorphine, a life-saving medication treatment for patients with opioid use disorder (OUD). This study examined the impact of these COVID-19 policies on buprenorphine treatment across different modalities (telephone, video, and in-person visits). Findings showed tha...
  
  Date: July 28, 2022
• Antipsychotic Prescribing Decreased in VA Nursing Homes, but Prescribing Alternative Drugs, such as Opioids, Increased
  This study sought to evaluate national trends in prescribing antipsychotic and other central nervous system (CNS)-active medications for Veterans with dementia residing in VA nursing homes, as well as how use has changed over time. Findings showed that antipsychotic use steadily decreased between FY2009 and FY2018 (from 34% to 28%), with similar declines in anxiolytic prescribing (from 34% to 27%)...
  
  Date: May 26, 2022
• Predictive Tool Associated with 22% Lower Odds of All-Cause Mortality among High-Risk Veterans Taking Opioids
  In 2018, VA mandated a case review intervention that targeted patients who had been prescribed opioid analgesics and who were at high risk of adverse outcomes. The Stratification Tool for Opioid Risk Mitigation (STORM), a provider-facing dashboard that uses predictive analytics to stratify patients prescribed opioids based on their risk for overdose/suicide, was developed to identify these patient...
  
  Date: May 2, 2022
• High Virologic Cure Rates for Hepatitis C Virus among Veterans with Opioid Use Disorder Treated with Elbasvir/Grazoprevir
  Elbasvir (EBR)/grazoprevir (GZR) is a fixed-dose combination treatment for hepatitis C virus (HCV). This study sought to evaluate the real-world effectiveness of EBR/GZR among Veterans with HCV genotype (GT) 1 who also had a diagnosis of opioid use disorder (OUD). Findings showed that high rates of virologic cure were achieved among VA patients with HCV, OUD, and multiple comorbidities, including ...
  
  Date: January 25, 2022

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• Evidence Brief: Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) for Chronic Pain, PTSD, TBI, Opioid Addiction, and Sexual Trauma - Supplementary Materials

  ...(TMS) for Chronic Pain, PTSD, TBI, Opioid Addiction, and Sexual Trauma - Supplementary...(TMS) for Chronic Pain, PTSD, TBI, Opioid Addiction, and Sexual Trauma - Supplementary...(TMS) for Chronic Pain, PTSD, TBI, Opioid Addiction, and Sexual Trauma Supplementary

• Effects of VHA Opioid Policy on Prescribing and Patient Outcomes || In Progress

  In 2013, VA launched the Opioid Safety Initiative (OSI), the first of several...system-wide initiatives to address opioid overuse. As a result, by mid-2016 the...Improving Opioid Safety » Table of Contents Effects of VHA Opioid Policy on...serious opioid-related harms. Recent VA opioid policies include the Opioid Safety

• Improving Opioid Safety || In Progress

  In 2013, VA launched the Opioid Safety Initiative (OSI), the first of several...system-wide initiatives to address opioid overuse. As a result, by mid-2016 the...This Issue: Improving Opioid Safety Overview: National Opioid Crisis Ongoing HSR&D...HSR&D Studies Effects of VHA Opioid Policy on Prescribing and Patient Outcomes

• Improving Opioid Safety || In Progress

  In 2013, VA launched the Opioid Safety Initiative (OSI), the first of several...system-wide initiatives to address opioid overuse. As a result, by mid-2016 the...This Issue: Improving Opioid Safety Overview: National Opioid Crisis Ongoing HSR&D...HSR&D Studies Effects of VHA Opioid Policy on Prescribing and Patient Outcomes

• Overview: National Opioid Crisis || In Progress

  In 2013, VA launched the Opioid Safety Initiative (OSI), the first of several...system-wide initiatives to address opioid overuse. As a result, by mid-2016 the...Issue: Improving Opioid Safety » Table of Contents National Opioid Crisis Overview...Overview The misuse of and addiction to opioids (i.e., prescription pain relievers

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Other Resources

• Learn more about VA HSR&D’s State of the Art conferences on opioid safety and non-pharmacological approaches to chronic musculoskeletal pain management.
• Learn more about the Quality Enhancement Research Initiative’s IMPROVE project, which focuses on integrating pain support in primary care in order to decrease the number of Veterans using opioid therapy for pain management.
• Visit the VA Office of Research & Development’s Substance Use Disorders (SUD) topic page for information about milestones in SUD research across all VA research services.