U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Justice Community Opioid Innovation Network
Overview
The Research Need
Many people with opioid use disorder (OUD) pass through the criminal justice system. Improved access to high-quality, evidence-based addiction treatment in justice settings will be critical to addressing the opioid crisis.
About the Program
The Helping to End Addiction Long-termSM Initiative, or NIH HEAL InitiativeSM, will support the Justice Community Opioid Innovation Network (JCOIN) to study approaches to increase high-quality care for people with opioid misuse and OUD in justice settings. JCOIN will test strategies to expand effective treatment and care in partnership with local and state justice systems and community-based treatment providers.
JCOIN will include:
- A national survey of addiction treatment delivery services within the justice system
- Studies on the effectiveness and adoption of new medications, prevention and treatment interventions, and technologies
- Using existing data sources in novel ways to understand care in justice populations
Together, these studies will generate real-world evidence to address the unique needs of individuals with OUD in justice settings.
#NIHHEAL: The Justice Community Opioid Innovation Network with Dr. Faye Taxman
Faye Taxman, PhD discusses the Women's Justice Community Opioid Innovation Network.
#NIHHEAL: Dr. Rosemary Martin on Telehealth Services for OUD in the Criminal Justice System
Rosemarie Martin, PhD discusses how a telehealth program could improve outcomes for justice-involved women.
Program Details
Through the NIH HEAL Initiative, NIH awarded 15 grants to form JCOIN. The awards, which total approximately $105.4 million, will support the innovation network over multiple years. JCOIN consists of research institutions and two centers that will provide supportive infrastructure — the Coordination and Translation Center and the Methodology and Advanced Analytic Resource Center.
The research institutions will each work with five or more communities, engaging with justice settings and with service providers in the community. They will study evidence-based medications, behavioral interventions, digital therapeutics, and comprehensive patient-centered treatments in 15 states and Puerto Rico.
The Coordination and Translation Center will manage logistics, engagement with practitioners and other key stakeholders in the justice and behavioral health fields, and dissemination of products and key research findings. It will also conduct research to identify effective dissemination strategies for reaching criminal justice stakeholders and provide funding for innovative, rapid-turnaround pilot studies. An educational component will provide outreach and mentorship to researchers and practitioners on conducting rigorous studies in justice settings.
The Methodology and Advanced Analytic Resource Center will provide data infrastructure and statistical and analytic expertise to support individual JCOIN studies and cross-site data synchronization. The center will also conduct novel empirical research to understand changes in state policies and practices within the criminal justice system as they relate to the opioid crisis.
Research Examples
Through the research institutions, JCOIN will address gaps in OUD treatment and related services in a wide range of criminal justice settings, including jails, drug and other problem-solving courts, policing and diversion, re-entry, and probation and parole.
Examples of research that the research institutions will undertake include:
- Studying the effectiveness and adoption of new medications for OUD
- Evaluating new state mandates around medication services and drug courts
- Assessing the effectiveness and implementation of processes to engage and retain individuals in OUD treatment (e.g., telehealth, patient navigation, peer recovery support services)
- Determining how to implement opioid-related services at the community, state, and national levels
Research Institutions
- Baystate Medical Center – Massachusetts
- Brown University – Rhode Island
- Chestnut Health Systems, Inc. – Illinois
- Friends Research Institute, Inc. – Maryland
- New York State Psychiatric Institute – New York
- New York University School of Medicine – New York
- Texas Christian University – Texas
- University of Chicago – Illinois
- University of Kentucky – Kentucky
- Yale University – Connecticut
Coordination and Translation Center
- George Mason University – Virginia
Methodology and Advanced Analytic Resource Center
- University of Chicago – Illinois
Funded Projects
Closed Funding Opportunities
Contact
Dr. Tisha Wiley, NIDA
NIH establishes network to improve opioid addiction treatment in criminal justice settings
The National Institutes of Health will award 12 grants to form the Justice Community Opioid Innovation Network (JCOIN) to support research on quality addiction treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD) in criminal justice settings nationwide.
Read moreView Other Research Programs in This Focus Area
- Behavioral Research to Improve Medication-Based Treatment (BRIM)
- Enhancing the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network to Address Opioids
- Harm Reduction Approaches to Reduce Overdose Death
- HEALing Communities Study
- Improving Delivery of Healthcare Services for Polysubstance Use
- Recovery Research Networks
- The Continuum of Care in Hospitalized Patients with Opioid Use Disorder and Infectious Complications of Drug Use (CHOICE)