Translation of Research to Practice for the Treatment of Opioid Addiction

The HEALing Communities Study will test the integration of prevention, overdose treatment, and medication-based treatment in select communities hard hit by the opioid crisis. This comprehensive treatment model will be tested in a coordinated array of settings, including primary care, emergency departments, and other community settings. Findings will establish best practices for integrating prevention and treatment strategies that can be replicated by communities nationwide.

The NIH HEAL Initiative will expand the size and scope of research conducted by the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network (CTN). This expansion will help address emergent needs presented by the opioid crisis. The CTN will integrate new opioid-related research questions into studies currently underway, expedite new studies in general medical and other settings, and enhance clinical and research training opportunities.

The Justice Community Opioid Intervention Network (JCOIN) will study quality care for opioid misuse and OUD in justice populations. JCOIN will help create partnerships between local and state justice systems and community-based treatment providers. Findings will address the critical need to improve the quality of OUD treatment in the justice system.

The NIH HEAL Initiative will work with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to learn if combining behavioral interventions with medication-based treatment for OUD can lead to better results. Some of the behavioral interventions to be studied include mindfulness meditation, cognitive behavioral therapy, and multidisciplinary rehabilitation. Researchers will examine whether these behavioral interventions improve adherence to medication-based treatment, improve outcomes, and reduce relapse. 

Through the Helping to End Addiction Long-term^® Initiative, or NIH HEAL Initiative^® and the National Institute on Drug Abuse, NIH supports the Recovery Research Networks. This program focuses on developing multi-stakeholder networks (researchers, payors, providers, people in recovery) to support the development of infrastructure to advance the science of long-term recovery. Five projects form the Consortium on Addiction Recovery Science (CoARS). Collectively, these projects are developing resources to support recovery research with a focus on community-based recovery centers, justice-involved youth, family-based recovery, recovery in rural settings, and integrated networks of care.