Policymakers and Payers

A summary of a workshop from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) HEAL (Helping to End Addiction Long-Term) Initiative, discussing opioid use in the context of polysubstance use.

Provides recommendations to support integrated primary care teams, including behavioral health providers, in adapting to and sustaining virtual team-based care

Describes the process for adoption of telehealth for patient care inside Kaiser Permanente and Intermountain Healthcare, showing the benefits of telehealth in reducing expensive and unnecessary trips to hospitals, how it can make care safer and more efficient and address disparities in care, and discussing what is needed to help other health systems adopt this new technology

Explores the use of technology to facilitate behavioral health and primary care integration with a focus on (1) screening for behavioral health issues, (2) clinician documentation, and (3) sharing data among clinicians, patients, and authorized parties. Details action-oriented recommendations and strategies for safe use of health IT for stakeholders and policymakers seeking to advance efforts to integrate behavioral health with primary care

Identifies clinical trials on medication-assisted treatment for alcohol use disorder from ClinicalTrials.gov, finding that 12.6% involving pharmaceutical treatment were prematurely terminated and 39.1% had not published results

An update to AHRQ's systematic review protocol on outpatient pharmacotherapy for adults with alcohol use disorder in April 2022

Summarizes research evaluating the efficacy, comparative effectiveness, and adverse effects of medications in adults with alcohol use disorder

Systematically reviews 156 trials, finding the best evidence of effectiveness for acamprosate, disulfiram, baclofen, and oral naltrexone among patients with alcohol use disorder supporting the expanded use of these medications in the clinical setting