Improving Medicaid care for teens and young adults with opioid use disorder
The Cascade of Care for Medicaid-Enrolled Youth with Opioid Use Disorder
This project maps where Medicaid-covered teens and young adults with opioid problems miss out on diagnosis and treatment across the care pathway.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Massachusetts General Hospital NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Boston, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11374213 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
You will be able to see where teens and young adults on Medicaid fall out of the care pathway: diagnosis, treatment start, medication for OUD, short-term engagement, and long-term retention. The researchers will analyze Medicaid records from many states linked to national databases to count and compare youth at each step of the cascade. They focus on people aged about 13 to 25 and will look for differences by age group and by county or state. This work uses existing health records, so it does not require new clinic visits or experimental treatments.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal candidates for inclusion are Medicaid-enrolled adolescents and young adults roughly aged 13 to 25 who have been diagnosed with or treated for opioid use disorder.
Not a fit: People who are not on Medicaid, outside the 13–25 age range, or who do not have opioid use disorder are unlikely to be affected by this project.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could point to specific gaps in care and guide policies or programs that help more Medicaid-enrolled youth get and stay on effective OUD treatment.
How similar studies have performed: Cascade-of-care approaches have helped highlight gaps in adult OUD and other chronic conditions, but applying this framework broadly to Medicaid-covered youth across many states is relatively new.
Where this research is happening
Boston, United States
- Massachusetts General Hospital — Boston, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Hadland, Scott Evan — Massachusetts General Hospital
- Study coordinator: Hadland, Scott Evan
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.