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Emerging Practices that show potential to achieve desirable public health outcomes in a specific real-life setting and produce early results that are consistent with the objectives of the activities and thus indicate effectiveness.
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White Paper/Brief
This article discusses the Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts (FORE) distribution of $1.3 million in grants to organizations studying the potential permanent adoption of COVID-19 care access measures to promote health equity in opioid use disorder treatment. The grants aim to investigate the impact of temporary policies, such as virtual care, on access to care and patient outcomes. The studies will explore how relaxed prescribing policies for buprenorphine, telehealth strategies, and other COVID-19 measures have affected patient access and outcomes, particularly among underserved populations. The research will inform evidence-based policies to sustain access to better care beyond the pandemic and address the ongoing opioid crisis.
Promising Practices that show evidence of effectiveness in improving public health outcomes in a specific real-life setting, as indicated by achievement of aims consistent with the objectives of the activities, and are suitable for adaptation by other communities.
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Peer Review Study
This article conducts a retrospective case-control study of electronic health records of individuals who were diagnosed with COVID-19 and have a recent diagnosis of substance use disorder (SUD). The results show that those diagnosed with SUD, particularly African Americans and those with opioid use disorder (OUD), are more likely to contract COVID-19, as well as suffer worsening outcomes such as hospitalization and mortality due to COVID-19. This article shows that an increase in SUD screening could be a factor in mitigating the spread of COVID-19 in this community.
Emerging Practices that show potential to achieve desirable public health outcomes in a specific real-life setting and produce early results that are consistent with the objectives of the activities and thus indicate effectiveness.
RELEASE DATE:
Peer Review Study
This is a qualitative study that looked at 25 women who were recently released from jail to ascertain reasons behind vaccine hesitancy and COVID-19 mitigation strategies for this sub-population. Results show that most participants had a great deal of vaccination mistrust and low health literacy rates, despite the fact that most of the participants were more susceptible to contracting COVID-19. The article discusses the importance of interventions to target these populations.
Emerging Practices that show potential to achieve desirable public health outcomes in a specific real-life setting and produce early results that are consistent with the objectives of the activities and thus indicate effectiveness.
RELEASE DATE:
Blog
This blog discusses incarceration as a structural determinant of individual health that also worsens population health and the need to understand the reach of mass incarceration through better measurement. The authors provide recommendations as how to improve data reporting on carceral populations.
Emerging Practices that show potential to achieve desirable public health outcomes in a specific real-life setting and produce early results that are consistent with the objectives of the activities and thus indicate effectiveness.
RELEASE DATE:
Peer Review Study
This study describes harm reduction and health services provided by the U.S. syringe services programs (SSPs) in 2019 and changes in provision of those services in 2020. Many SSPs that offered health services in 2019 and remained operational in 2020 increased telehealth provision of mental health and primary care services, increased MOUD provision, and expanded harm reduction services, but most SSPs reduced or stopped on-site HIV and HCV testing. With the record high opioid overdose fatality rates in 2020, sustaining the trajectory of SSP growth and innovation leading up to and through 2020 requires ensuring adequate and flexible funding to support the life-saving work of SSPs in preventing future overdose deaths and outbreaks of HIV and HCV.
Promising Practices that show evidence of effectiveness in improving public health outcomes in a specific real-life setting, as indicated by achievement of aims consistent with the objectives of the activities, and are suitable for adaptation by other communities.
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Summary Report/Recommendations
This article discusses the preliminary data regarding Syringe Services Program (SSP) operational and service delivery changes during the response to the COVID-19 pandemic and provides key policy and service provision implications for SSPs. There is an emphasis on the distribution of services provided at SSPs and highlights the need for SSP support in providing education, prevention, and strategies to avoid emerging infectious disease outbreaks.
Emerging Practices that show potential to achieve desirable public health outcomes in a specific real-life setting and produce early results that are consistent with the objectives of the activities and thus indicate effectiveness.
RELEASE DATE:
Peer Review Study
Using public information, the researchers in this study constructed and analyzed a database of incarceration episodes in the city jail system, focusing on what happened March 23-29, 2020, immediately following the mayor’s order to release individuals incarcerated in New York City jails who were at high risk of contracting the disease and at low risk of committing criminal re-offense. They found that being discharged during the focus week was associated with a lower probability of readmission as compared to being discharged during the same calendar week in previous years. Furthermore, comparing the individuals discharged during the focus week of 2020 to those discharged during the same calendar week in previous years, they found that the former group was, on average, slightly older than the latter group, although the difference was not large. Additionally, the individuals in the former group had spent substantially longer in jail than those in the latter group.
Emerging Practices that show potential to achieve desirable public health outcomes in a specific real-life setting and produce early results that are consistent with the objectives of the activities and thus indicate effectiveness.
RELEASE DATE:
Peer Review Study
This study examines the impact that COVID-19 has on incarcerated populations by analyzing systematic data on testing, test positivity, cases, and case fatality. Using data from the COVID Prison Project, the study presents data from 53 prison systems and compares these data with each state’s general population. Many states were not reporting full information on COVID-19 testing with some also not reporting on case fatality. Among those reporting data, there was wide variation between testing, test positivity, and case rates within prison systems and as compared to the general population. However, when more tests were deployed, more cases were identified, with the majority of state prisons having higher case rates than their general population.
Emerging Practices that show potential to achieve desirable public health outcomes in a specific real-life setting and produce early results that are consistent with the objectives of the activities and thus indicate effectiveness.
RELEASE DATE:
Peer Review Study
The authors investigated data sources to determine whether short-term jailing of individuals prior to release may drive COVID-19 spread.
Emerging Practices that show potential to achieve desirable public health outcomes in a specific real-life setting and produce early results that are consistent with the objectives of the activities and thus indicate effectiveness.
RELEASE DATE:
Peer Review Study
Using jail population data, county-level aggregate data, and policy intervention data, this study examines the association of jail decarceration and anticontagion policies with COVID-19 rates. This study adds a unique contribution to the discussion of incarceration and disease spreading, as it is the first to examine the effects of decarceration on population-level community health outcomes. The authors compare anticontagion policies within jails throughout the United States to other community policy interventions such as stay-at-home orders, nursing home visitation bans, school closures, and mask mandates. Additionally, the study analyzes four demographic subsets including income, population density, and median proportion of populations identifying as Black. The results showed that an 80% reduction in jail incarcerations would decrease disease spreading in both the prison system and the community, and was more effective than any other community policy intervention.