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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Prescription drug misuse

Rural Health Research Recap: Opioid Use and Treatment Availability
Summarizes key findings from the Rural Health Research Centers' most recent research on opioid use and treatment. Focuses on research related to opioid use in rural communities, treatment for opioid use disorder, perceived need and use of treatment, and rural community response. Provides links to each of the referenced source documents.
Author(s): Shawnda Schroeder
Date: 01/2018
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Research Gateway
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The Opioid Crisis: An Examination of How We Got Here and How We Move Forward
Presents the full U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) hearing on the opioid crisis, featuring a testimony from Sam Quinones, journalist and author of Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opioid Epidemic.
Additional links: Written Testimony
Date: 01/2018
Sponsoring organization: Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions
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Perceived Treatment Need and Utilization for Illicit Drug and Opioid Use Disorders in Non-Metropolitan Areas
Gives estimates of perceived need and use of treatment for illicit drug and prescription pain reliever use disorders in 2008-2010, 2011-2013, and 2014-2015 among people ages 18-64. Includes statistics with breakdowns by urban or rural locations and by opioid, heroin, prescription drug, or any drug use disorder.
Author(s): Tyrone F. Borders, Hefei Wen
Date: 01/2018
Sponsoring organization: Rural and Underserved Health Research Center
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Illicit Drug and Opioid Use Disorders among Non-Metropolitan Residents
Provides estimates of metropolitan and non-metropolitan past year drug use disorder rates among people ages 18-64 and temporal changes in past year drug use disorder prevalence rates. Includes statistics with metropolitan and non-metropolitan breakdowns for any drug, opioid, heroin, and prescription pain reliever use disorder.
Author(s): Tyrone F. Borders, Hefei Wen
Date: 01/2018
Sponsoring organization: Rural and Underserved Health Research Center
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Evidence-Based Strategies for Preventing Opioid Overdose: What's Working in the United States
Guide for community leaders, public health, law enforcement, and others working to address the opioid crisis in their community. Identifies evidence-based practices that have been successfully implemented in the U.S. and are effective in reducing rates of opioid overdose. Includes strategies focused on naloxone distribution, medication-assisted treatment (MAT), addressing opioid use in criminal justice settings, syringe services, and more.
Author(s): Jennifer J. Carroll, Traci C. Green, Rita K. Noonan
Date: 2018
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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Child Welfare and Substance Use
Discusses a study on the relationship between substance use, specifically opioid misuse, and child welfare caseloads. Explores reports of child abuse and foster care entries along with drug mortality rates and retail opioid sales. Features rural information in the second and third reports.
Date: 2018
Sponsoring organization: HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation
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The Opioid Crisis in Rural and Small Town America
Provides data on opioid mortality rates in 2016 and changes in opioid mortality from 1999 through 2016 for metropolitan and nonmetro counties. Also provides metro/nonmetro data on drug overdoses by type of opioid - heroin, prescription opioids, synthetic opioids, and unspecified opioids - from 1999 through 2016. Discusses challenges rural areas face in addressing the opioid crisis.
Author(s): Shannon M. Monnat, Khary K. Rigg
Date: 2018
Sponsoring organization: Carsey School of Public Policy
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Leading a Faith-Based Charge Against Opioid Abuse: How a Minnesota Rural Health Organization Became a National Leader
Describes prescription drug abuse treatment efforts of CHI St. Gabriel's Health, a multifacility rural health organization in Little Falls, Minnesota.
Author(s): Patrick Rioux
Citation: Health Progress, 99(2), 29-32
Date: 2018
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Vermont Results First: Inventory and Benefit-Cost Analysis for the Department of Health/Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Program's Medication Assisted Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder (Hub and Spoke)
Examines the program inventory and benefit-cost analysis of Vermont's Care Alliance for Opioid Addiction, a "Hub and Spoke" system of regional opioid treatment programs that treat individuals with opioid use disorder using medication along with counseling and supportive services.
Date: 12/2017
Sponsoring organizations: Criminal Research Group, Results First Initiative, Justice Research and Statistics Association, State of Vermont Blueprint for Health, Vermont Department of Health, Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Programs (ADAP)
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Examining Substance Use Disorder Treatment Demand and Provider Capacity in a Changing Health Care System: Final Report
Assesses demand and capacity for substance use disorder treatment, with comparisons between years 2013 and 2016. Features statistics including numbers of clients, staff hours, percentage of facilities offering pharmacotherapies and accepting various insurance types, and distribution of specialty treatments, with breakdowns by urban and rural locations.
Additional links: In Focus Brief, May 2018
Author(s): Ellen Bouchery
Date: 12/2017
Sponsoring organization: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
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