The economic burden of opioid use disorder and fatal opioid overdose in the United States, 2017

State-Level Economic Costs of Opioid Use Disorder and Fatal Opioid Overdose — United States, 2017

“…Approximately 47,000 persons in the United States died from an opioid-involved overdose in 2018 ( 1 ), and 2.0 million persons met the diagnostic criteria for an opioid use disorder in 2017 ( 2 ). The economic cost of the U.S. opioid epidemic in 2017 was estimated at $1,021 billion, including cost of opioid use disorder estimated at $471 billion and cost of fatal opioid overdose estimated at $550 billion ( 3 ). CDC used national-level cost estimates to estimate the state-level economic cost of opioid use disorder and fatal opioid overdose during 2017.…”

“…Cost per case of opioid use disorder ($221,219) was derived by dividing the total U.S. cost of opioid use disorder ($470,975 million) during 2017 by the number of opioid use disorder cases the same year (2.129 million) ( 3 ). Cost per case of fatal opioid overdose ($11.548 million) was derived by dividing the total cost of fatal opioid overdose ($549,691 million) by the number of fatal opioid overdose cases (47,600) ( 3 ). State-level cost of opioid use disorder was calculated by multiplying the U.S. cost of opioid use disorder per case by the number of cases of opioid use disorder in each state.…”

“…Cost components of opioid use disorder and fatal opioid overdose include the costs of health care, substance use treatment, criminal justice, lost productivity, reduced quality of life, and the value of statistical life lost. These components were calculated by multiplying the number of state cases of opioid use disorder or fatal opioid overdose by national cost estimates per case for each component ( 3 ). §…”

The National Drug Crisis - What Have We Learned from the Regional Science Disciplines?

“…Costs for opioid use disorder and fatal opioid overdose in 2017 were estimated to be $1.02 trillion (Florence et al, 2020). The majority of the economic burden is due to reduced quality of life from opioid use disorder and the value of life lost due to fatal opioid overdose.…”

Survey of Opioid Stewardship Practices in American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) Post-Graduate Year 2 (PGY2) Pain Management and Palliative Care (PMPC) Pharmacy Residency Programs

“…Over 67,000 people died of drug overdose in 2018, with opioids being involved in 69.5% of them (2). The economic burden of prescription opioid abuse is also substantial, with approximately $78.5 billion per year being spent toward healthcare costs, addiction treatment, and criminal justice costs, among other expenses (2)(3). The opioid epidemic has resulted in increased emphasis on stewardship practices within the healthcare system.…”