The challenges of transitioning consumers with opioid use disorder (OUD) from emergency care to ongoing treatment have been well documented. Hospital emergency departments have become one of the primary entry points into addiction treatment, with nearly 790,000 annual opioid-related hospital stays nationwide according to a new analysis – Trends In Hospital Stays Associated With Alcohol, Opioid, And Stimulant Use). Yet many consumers never successfully connect to ongoing treatment after discharge.

What happens after discharge remains the critical challenge. Another recent study – Initiation And Retention Of Opioid Use Disorder Treatment Medication After Emergency Department Discharge Among South Carolina Medicaid Enrollees – found that just 7.6% of individuals with an opioid-related emergency department visit initiated medication for opioid use disorder…