A data-driven intervention that engaged communities to rapidly deploy evidence-based practices to reduce opioid-related overdose deaths – such as increasing naloxone distribution and enhancing access to medication for opioid use disorder – did not result in a statistically significant reduction in opioid-related overdose death rates during the evaluation period, according to results from the National Institutes of Health's HEALing (Helping to End Addiction Long-Term) Communities Study. Researchers identified the COVID-19 pandemic and increased prevalence of fentanyl in the illicit drug market – including in mixtures with cocaine and methamphetamine – as factors that likely weakened the impact of the intervention on reducing opioid-related overdose deaths. The findings were published in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented at the College on Problems of Drug Dependence (CPDD) meeting on Sunday, June 16, 2024.
Launched in 2019, the HEALing Communities Study is the largest addiction prevention and treatment implementation study ever conducted and took place in 67 communities in Kentucky, Massachusetts, New York, and Ohio – four states that have been hard hit by the opioid crisis. Despite facing unforeseen challenges, the HEALing Communities Study successfully engaged communities to select and implement hundreds of evidence-based strategies over the course of the intervention, demonstrating how leveraging community partnerships and using data to inform publi.
