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Source/Disclosures Disclosures: Gomes reports receiving grants paid in support of the research program from the Ontario Ministry of Health, a grant paid in support of the conduct of the study from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and Canada Research Chair funding for salary support. See the study for all relevant financial disclosures by the other authors.
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Enter your email address to receive an email when new articles are published on . ” data-action=”subscribe”> Subscribe We were unable to process your request. Please try again later. If you continue to experience this problem, please contact [email protected] Back to Healio A time-series analysis of a safer opioid supply program in Ontario, Canada, showed reduced rates of ED visits, hospitalizations and health care costs, researchers reported in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. Tara Gomes, PhD, MHSc, an epidemiologist and principal investigator at the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network in Canada, and colleagues sought to assess the impact of a Canadian safer opioid supply program launched in 2016. Source: Adobe Stock. The program allows people at high risk of overdose to be prescribed pharmaceutical opioids as an alternative to providing adulterated fentanyl drugs, as well as comprehensive health and social support. Gomes and colleagues conducted a time-series analysis of residents who received an opioid use disorder diagnosis and entered the program between January 2016 and March 2019. They also had a comparison group of individuals matched on demographic and clinical characteristics but not part of the program . The researchers reported reduced rates of ED visits (–14 visits per 100 persons; 95% CI, –26 to –2), hospitalizations (–5 per 100 persons; 95% CI, –9 to –2), and health care costs ( – $922 per person, 95% CI, –$1,577 to –$268) after initial program entry. In the year after program entry, the rate of ED visits (RR, 0.69; 95% CI, 0.53-0.9), hospitalizations (RR, 0.46; 95% CI, 0.29- 0.74) and health care costs ($15,635 vs. $7,310 per person-year) decreased significantly among those in the program compared to the previous year. “These positive effects were seen very quickly after entering the program,” Gomes said in a press release from the journal. “We did not see similar changes in a matched group of people with opioid use disorder who did not enroll in the program, suggesting that these changes seen in safer supply clients were due to program participation and were not influenced by external factors.” Gomes and colleagues wrote that their findings “provide preliminary evidence that [safer opioid supply] programs can play an important role in expanding the treatment and harm reduction options available to people who use drugs at high risk of drug poisoning.”

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