State Snapshot
Boston Medical Center’s research team brings decades of experience treating people with substance use disorder to ending the opioid overdose epidemic across Massachusetts. In collaboration with HEAL communities’ grassroots coalitions, we’re committed to bridging the gaps that prevent people with opioid use disorder from accessing quality care and treatment.
The Massachusetts HEALing Communities Study is an incredible opportunity for Boston Medical Center to participate in the unprecedented NIH HEAL InitiativeSM to stem the national opioid crisis. The progress and findings from this research study will inform evidence-based solutions to reduce opioid overdose deaths.
"We are using an approach founded on evidence-based practices. By engaging communities in a program implementation process that works, we aim to get people into treatment, help them stay in treatment, and ultimately help them live a healthier life. We have good tools in the toolbox and this research study will help determine how our communities can reach as many people as possible with them."
Carly Bridden,
Project Director,
Boston Medical Center
Massachusetts is ranked among the top 10 states with the highest rates of opioid overdose deaths. 11. National Institute on Drug Abuse. (2017). Opioid Summaries by State. Retrieved from here.
Since 2015, there has been a 40% decrease in the number of number of opioids prescribed to Massachusetts residents. 22. Massachusetts Department of Public Health (2020). MA Prescription Monitoring Program County-Level Data Measures (2019 Quarter 4). Retrieved from here.
Hope in HEALing
Our Grant
Guided by shared decision-making and ownership in local communities, Boston Medical Center will work with community stakeholders to bridge gaps in prevention, treatment, and recovery services by testing the implementation of a suite of tailored programs.
Key components of our approach include engaging with communities in a process to:
- Identify local needs and existing resources.
- Select and implement a range of evidence-based practices to reduce opioid overdose deaths.
- Communicate messages to reduce the stigma of opioid use disorder and increase the number of individuals receiving and adhering to medication for opioid use disorder.
- Accelerate access to low-threshold initiation of medication for opioid use disorder for individuals at high risk during hospitalization, incarceration, or detoxification.
Each component is based on evidence that informs the strategies to reduce the negative impact of opioid use disorder, initiate and maintain people with opioid use disorder in treatment, and ultimately save lives.
What We Hope to Learn
At Boston Medical Center, we’re committed to learning how best to work with communities to implement evidence-based interventions most effectively in order to reduce opioid overdose deaths. With an awareness that the solutions to reducing opioid overdose deaths are generated by collaborations between researchers and community partners, our aim is to optimize community-based strategies for addressing gaps in the prevention, care, and treatment for people with opioid use disorder.
The ultimate effectiveness and sustainability of the Massachusetts HEALing Communities Study lies in the participating communities. Boston Medical Center is committed to facilitating an ongoing reciprocal relationship with HEAL communities that amplifies the impact of knowledge gained from this research study.
Our Communities in the HEALing Communities Study
Wave One
Bourne & Sandwich
Brockton
Gloucester
Holyoke
Lowell
Plymouth
Salem
Shirley & Townsend
Study Contact
Principal Investigator
Jeffrey H. Samet, MD, MA, MPH
HEALing Communities Study
Chief, Section of General Internal Medicine, Boston Medical Center
Vice Chair for Public Health, Department of Medicine
John Noble, MD Professor in General Internal Medicine and Professor of Community Health Science, Boston University Schools of Medicine and Public Health
jsamet@bu.edu