‘Whole Person Health’: Inside Weill Cornell Medicine’s Research in Integrated Opioid Use
More than 806,000 Americans have died from opioid overdose since the opioid epidemic began in the 1990s. Effective opioid use disorder treatments exist, and ensuring that patients can access care remains essential to tackling the crisis. Here’s how researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine are taking…
Effective opioid use disorder treatments exist, and ensuring that patients can access care remains essential to tackling the crisis. Here’s how researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine are taking an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the barriers between impacted Americans and access to opioid use disorder.
Substance use disorder treatments have not historically existed as integrated parts of mainstream medical care. For patients with mental or physical health conditions in addition to OUD, this separation may result in structural barriers to receiving care, according to Kayla Tormohlen, senior research associate.
What Happened
In the case of OUD, medications like buprenorphine, methadone and naltrexone reduce opioid cravings and have existed for decades. However, methadone, for example, must be dispensed through an opioid treatment program outside of a typical clinical setting, according to the Substance Abuse.
More than 806,000 Americans have died from opioid overdose since the opioid epidemic began in the 1990s.
While a 2015 study found that starting buprenorphine care in the ED was associated with an increase in OUD patients continuing to receive care, implementing this care comes with logistical and systemic barriers, including.
With opioid overdose fatalities decreasing nearly 27% between 2023 and 2024, Schackman discussed how the focus of research around opioid use may shift away from overdose towards other aspects of OUD.
Key Details
Tormohlen researches how policies influence healthcare access and how they might be used to improve access to care. One area of her research centers on health systems — defined as healthcare organizations that include hospitals and physicians — with integrated substance use.
These efforts aim to demystify a promising strategy for OUD care integration.
Researchers created a budget impact tool for stakeholders to understand potential costs of integrating buprenorphine care into the ED.
To better understand how these barriers might be addressed, Ryan’s paper broke down the cost of an implementation strategy in which experts guide EDs in the integration of these new practices.
Why It Matters
The goal of this research is to better understand how these health systems improve care quality and patient outcomes. Tormohlen leads a project studying these integrated health systems alongside Beth McGinty, chief of the Division of Health Policy and Economics at Weill.
ED-initiated buprenorphine refers to buprenorphine treatment that is begun in the ED of a medical facility and followed by referral to ongoing care, according to the NIH.
Unlike methadone, buprenorphine is an OUD treatment that does not require participation in an opioid treatment program.
What Reports Say
Coverage of the story so far points to:
Continued reporting by The Cornell Daily Sun as more details emerge
