Opioid Use Disorder - Treatment and Analysis

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

This session examines how substance use policies—particularly Medicaid expansions and opioid regulations—affect treatment access, behavioral health outcomes, and broader social risks. Together, these papers highlight the complex consequences of healthcare policy reforms across mental health, violence prevention, and overdose classification systems.

One paper analyzes post-2018 Medicaid expansions and finds that they increased buprenorphine prescriptions for Medicaid patients, primarily by shifting payment from commercial insurance. A second study evaluates whether Medicaid expansion crowded out state funding for substance use disorder treatment and finds reductions in state-level program availability in some cases. A third paper uses large language models to uncover potentially underreported suicides among drug overdose deaths, pointing to systemic classification challenges. The fourth paper shows that opioid prescription limit laws are associated with declines in reported intimate partner violence, particularly in states with stricter policies.

These findings offer timely policy insights into how access, funding structures, and regulatory controls intersect to shape health and safety outcomes in vulnerable populations.

Policy Area

• Health Policy

Chair

• Alice M Ellyson, University of Washington

Discussants

• Christine Piette Durrance, University of Wisconsin-Madison

• Anne M. Burton, University of Texas, Dallas

Organizer

• Nicole Y Siegal, Indiana University

Individual Presentations

• The Impact of Medicaid Expansion on the Availability of Specialty SUD Treatment Programs in the US - Presenting Author: FELIPE ANDRES LOZANO-ROJAS, University of Georgia; Non-Presenting Co-Author: Angela Marie Shoulders, University of South Carolina

• Suicidal Intent in Fatal Drug Overdoses: An Application of LLMs to Classify Death through Investigator Narratives - Presenting Author: Alexander Lundberg, Northwestern University

• Initial Prescription Duration Limits and Intimate Partner Violence - Presenting Author: Ashley Bradford, Georgia Institute of Technology

• Impact of Recent Medicaid Expansion on Buprenorphine Prescriptions - Presenting Author: Nicole Y Siegal, Indiana University; Non-Presenting Co-Author: Kosali Simon, Indiana University; Non-Presenting Co-Author: Sumedha Gupta Gupta; Non-Presenting Co-Author: Hillary Samples, Rutgers University; Non-Presenting Co-Author: Jennifer Miles, Rutgers University - New Brunswick