Barbara Goodheart, ELS

Many patients seeking help for a health-related crisis are relieved to learn that their new caregiver has had a similar experience—especially when it’s treatment for a substance use disorder (SUD). As patients face stigma and other barriers, empathy from a caregiver with shared experiences can help keep them in treatment while they receive medication for opioid use disorder … [Read more...] about Study: Peer Caregivers Help Patients Counteract Stigma Barrier

When Agatha Christie’s famous Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot, attributed his investigative success to “the little grey cells”—components of the brain’s grey matter—he may well have been correct. He usually was. Today, neuroscientists delving into the comparatively neglected “other half of the brain” are defining the highly important roles of white matter. They’ve found … [Read more...] about Study: Long-term Abstinence Restores Impaired Brain Function and Structure in Patients With Heroin Use Disorder, but Questions Remain

Emergency department (ED) clinicians could start patients with opioid use disorder (OUD) on the road to life-saving recovery by beginning buprenorphine treatment during an ED visit. But many patients aren’t given a prescription when they leave the ED. Why is this? Research on treating OUD in the ED has tended to focus on clinician-reported barriers, such as regulatory … [Read more...] about Study: “Just Give Them a Choice!”—What Patients Think About Starting Buprenorphine or Methadone in the ED

Patients with opioid use disorder (OUD) experiencing homelessness face an increased risk of opioid overdose and death, compared with patients with OUD who are housed. Unfortunately, those lacking housing are less likely than those with housing to enter and stay in methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) programs—programs they urgently need. A new study funded in part by the … [Read more...] about Study: Low-Barrier-to-Treatment-Access Programs Help Patients Experiencing Homelessness Enter MMT and Stay in Treatment

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, experts at Mount Sinai Beth Israel (MSBI)—one of the largest systems in the U.S. for delivering medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD)—quickly realized the need for streamlining methadone delivery in their 10 opioid treatment programs (OTPs). They reasoned that a new age—and the COVID-19 era certainly qualifies—calls for out-of-the-box … [Read more...] about Mount Sinai Beth Israel Streamlines Procedures in COVID-19, Speeds Medication Delivery to OTP Patients