Identifying Safety-Net Resources at Health Centers to Prevent Infectious Disease Transmission Resulting from the Opioid Epidemic

Abstract

Human Services asked the RAND Corporation to conduct an exploratory study examining the factors that affect the ability of Community Health Centers (CHCs) to reduce transmission of infectious diseases related to the opioid epidemic. The emphasis is on rural areas, which have suffered disproportionately from the opioid epidemic and lack resources to address the complex social and medical issues related to opioid use, opioid use disorder, and risk for infectious diseases. Discussions were held with staff from eight CHCs, selected from the 102 CHCs in counties that prior research has identified as being at high risk for opioid-use-related transmission of infectious diseases. The content of these discussions was summarized to identify the major challenges that CHCs face in preventing and treating infectious diseases and the strategies that they employ to overcome these challenges. This work was sponsored by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation under contract HHSP23320095649WC, for which Stephanie Chan serves as project officer. The research was conducted in RAND Health Care, a division of the RAND Corporation. RAND Health Care promotes healthier societies by improving health care systems in the United States and other countries. We do this by providing health care decisionmakers, practitioners, and consumers with actionable, rigorous, objective evidence to support their most complex decisions.