• Burgess DJ, Krebs EE, Roth CS. Taking the Bait from the Prescription Opioid Industry: a Mea Culpa. Journal of general internal medicine. 2022 Jan 19.
• Balbale SN, Cao L, Trivedi I, Stulberg JJ, Suda KJ, Gellad WF, Evans CT, Jordan N, Keefer LA, Lambert BL. Opioid-related emergency department visits and hospitalizations among patients with chronic gastrointestinal symptoms and disorders dually enrolled in the Department of Veterans Affairs and Medicare Part D. American journal of health-system pharmacy : AJHP : official journal of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. 2022 Jan 5; 79(2):78-93.
• Hagedorn HJ, Gustavson AM, Ackland PE, Bangerter A, Bounthavong M, Clothier B, Harris AHS, Kenny ME, Noorbaloochi S, Salameh HA, Gordon AJ. Advancing Pharmacological Treatments for Opioid Use Disorder (ADaPT-OUD): an Implementation Trial in Eight Veterans Health Administration Facilities. Journal of general internal medicine. 2022 Jan 3.
• Hayes CJ, Krebs EE, Brown J, Li C, Hudson T, Martin BC. Impact of transitioning from long-term to intermittent opioid therapy on the development of opioid-related adverse outcomes: A retrospective cohort study. Drug and Alcohol Dependence. 2021 Dec 24; 231:109236.
• Agbalajobi OM, Gmelin T, Moon AM, Alexandre W, Zhang G, Gellad WF, Jonassaint N, Rogal SS. Characteristics of opioid prescribing to outpatients with chronic liver diseases: A call for action. PLoS ONE. 2021 Dec 17; 16(12):e0261377.

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• Death from Overdose Involving Stimulants Increasing in Veterans
  This study sought to describe trends in stimulant-alone and stimulant and other substance use overdose deaths among Veterans and to measure patient and treatment use characteristics across stimulant-related overdose death profiles. Findings showed that the rate of deaths among Veterans from stimulant-related overdose, alone and in combination with other substances, tripled from 2012 to 2018 with t...
  
  Date: October 14, 2021
• Veterans Do Not Always Receive Appropriate Continuation of OUD Medications During Surgical Hospitalizations
  This study sought to describe practice patterns of perioperative buprenorphine use within VA – and patient outcomes up to 12 months following surgery. Findings showed that the majority of VA surgical patients in this study who received buprenorphine for opioid use disorder experienced a dose hold at some point during the perioperative period despite a trend in clinical guidelines recommending bupr...
  
  Date: September 20, 2021
• Veterans Receiving Buprenorphine for Opioid Use Disorder Have Lower Risk of Suicide/Overdose Mortality
  This study sought to determine the association between buprenorphine pharmacotherapy and suicide, overdose, and all-cause mortality among Veterans initiating buprenorphine within VA. Findings showed that Veterans who were not receiving buprenorphine pharmacotherapy on any given day had more than a four-fold increase in suicide/overdose death compared to those who received buprenorphine, even when ...
  
  Date: May 19, 2021
• Medication Therapy for Opioid Use Disorder Saves Lives and Can Save Money for Society
  Investigators in this study developed a mathematical model to assess the cost-effectiveness of opioid use disorder treatments and the association of these treatments with outcomes in the US. Two analyses were done, the first considering only health sector costs, and the second also considering criminal justice costs. Findings showed that medication-assisted treatment (MAT), with or without overdos...
  
  Date: March 31, 2021
• Research Suggests Battlefield Acupuncture is Immediate but Short-Term Pain Management Tool
  This commentary summarizes work conducted to examine battlefield acupuncture’s (BFA’s) implementation and effectiveness within the VA healthcare system. Findings show that there is some evidence that BFA is a potentially effective, immediate, but short-term pain management tool that can be used in adjunct with other pain therapies. BFA produced a minimal clinically important improvement in pain fo...
  
  Date: March 26, 2021

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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

• State Prescription Monitoring Program to Evaluate Concurrent VA and Non-VA Opioid Prescriptions || 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...September 2018 In This Issue: Improving Opioid Safety » Table of Contents State Prescription...Evaluate Concurrent VA and Non-VA Opioid Prescriptions Feature Article Controlled

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

  Effects of VA Opioid Policy on Prescribing and Patient Outcomes...Prescription Opioid Use among Veterans » Table of Contents Effects of VHA Opioid Policy...Patient-Centered Outcomes Ongoing Study Opioid analgesics are the most commonly prescribed

• 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.