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AHRQ: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

Substance Use Tools & Resources   

Read the Guide

This collection of tools and resources is for providers, staff, and patients who offer or use services to address substance use, and other interested stakeholders. This collection was originally established following an environmental scan on implementing medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid use disorder (OUD) in rural primary care. (See PDFs of Volume 1 [PDF 0.69 MB] and Volume 2 [PDF 1.28 MB] of that scan). Items have been continuously added to this collection since then, and the collection has expanded to cover substance use more broadly, rather than just MAT for OUD.

Displaying 1 - 10 of 93

Community Opioid Overdose Reversal Medications (OORMs) Planning Toolkit

This comprehensive resource is designed to help communities expand access to lifesaving medications like naloxone to reduce overdose fatalities. The toolkit provides actionable guidance for community leaders, public health professionals, and other partners to create effective overdose prevention and response strategies to improve local overdose reduction outcomes.
Format
Guide
Audience
Communities
Other Team Members
Source
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
Year
Resource Type
PDF
File Size
21.9 MB

From Pain Relief to Risk: A Case of Suspected Opioid Overdose in a Pediatric Patient

This blog post presents a case study of a pediatric patient who died by opioid overdose and provides commentary on the case and highlights ways to improve patient safety.
Format
Other
Audience
Medical Providers
Behavioral Health Providers
Other Team Members
Families
Source
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
Year
Resource Type
PDF
File Size
40.1 KB

U.S. Overdose Deaths Remain Higher Than in Other Countries — Trend-Tracking and Harm-Reduction Policies Could Help

This blog post reviews the rate of overdose fatality in the United States and how it compares to that of other countries. The blog post also reviews harm reduction policies that could assuage this crisis.
Format
Web Page
Audience
Policymakers and Payers
States
Graduate Education
Source
The Commonwealth Fund
Year
Resource Type
Web Page

Drug Overdose Death Rates

This web page highlights statistics on deaths involving drugs commonly associated with fatal overdose from 1999-2022 collected by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Format
Web Page
Audience
Behavioral Health Providers
Communities
Policymakers and Payers
States
Source
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
Year
Resource Type
Web Page

Engaging PWLLE in Overdose Data Collection, Interpretation and Dissemination

This tool highlights examples of successful People With Lived and Living Experience (PWLLE) engagement in data collection, interpretation and dissemination, gathered through key informant interviews — including overdose fatality review committees, drug checking, patient surveys and overdose reversal reporting — as well as novel approaches to community-based participatory research.
Format
Report/Paper/Issue Brief
Audience
States
Communities
Other Team Members
Source
National Council for Mental Wellbeing
Year
Resource Type
PDF
File Size
614 KB

Integrating People with Lived and Living Experience into Overdose Prevention and Response Programs

This guide offers strategies to integrate people with living and lived experience (PWLLE) into overdose prevention programs, featuring examples like overdose spike response and overdose fatality reviews. 
Format
Guide
Audience
Medical Providers
Behavioral Health Providers
Other Team Members
Source
National Council for Mental Wellbeing
Year
Resource Type
PDF
File Size
412 KB

Medicaid Coverage of Medications to Reverse Opioid Overdose and Treat Alcohol and Opioid Use Disorders

This report provides an update on the present state of coverage, availability of, and access to, medications for treating ongoing alcohol use disorder and opioid use disorder, and reversing an opioid overdose within state Medicaid plans.
Format
Report/Paper/Issue Brief
Audience
Policymakers and Payers
States
Medical Providers
Behavioral Health Providers
Other Team Members
Source
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
Year
Resource Type
PDF
File Size
2.8 MB