JCOIN Phase II Economic Research Resource Center

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT The Justice Community Overdose Innovation Network (JCOIN) is a coordinated effort to build the evidence base for the delivery of substance use disorder (SUD) care within the criminal-legal system. JCOIN Phase II will build upon Phase-I's success by scaling up effective interventions, evaluating implementation strategies, testing novel care models, and prioritizing interagency coordination to enhance continuity of care. However, maximizing access to evidence-based care requires simultaneously considering both the costs and benefits of alternative care models. The JCOIN-II Economic Research Resource Center (ERRC) will provide resources and evidence that support the application of health economic research to inform real-world decisions regarding SUD services within the criminal-legal system, while furthering scientific innovation in the field, and establishing a paradigm for integrating health economics into SUD policies at all levels. Specifically, the ERRC will: 1) support JCOIN-II Hubs by identifying economic research questions, and providing guidance on designing, implementing, analyzing, and translating prospective economic evaluations; 2) conduct novel and rigorous health economic research that informs complex “real-world” decisions of policymakers and stakeholders at all levels of the criminal-legal system regarding how best to utilize their limited resources to address the overdose crisis; 3) develop and disseminate tools/resources that can be readily used by practitioners and policymakers to make informed decisions about the relative budget impact of alternative strategies to care for SUD, and to inform the design of appropriate payment systems that support sustainability; and 4) provide ad hoc consultation and technical assistance on economic analyses to JCOIN-II researchers/practitioners, and to develop easily accessible educational resources on economic data collection, analysis, and considerations specific to criminal-legal contexts. The ERRC will be led by Drs. Murphy and McCollister, two health economists with vast expertise in the design and analysis of prospective economic evaluations alongside clinical trials for SUD interventions, particularly in criminal-legal settings. The MPIs have a rich history of collaboration and co-leadership, including as co-directors of: a) the Methodology Core for the NIDA-funded Center for Health Economics of Treatment Interventions for Substance Use Disorder, HCV, and HIV (CHERISH); and b) the JCOIN-I Health Economic Analytic Team (HEAT), which they established to ensure methodological rigor and harmonization in economic evaluations across JCOIN-I Hubs. We will maximize the ERRC's impact by leveraging existing partnerships with the JCOIN Coordination and Translation Center (CTC) and Methodology and Advanced Analytics Resource Center (MAARC), and forging a new partnership with the Community Engaged Research Resource Center (CERRC). Together, these centers will enhance data sharing and analysis, stakeholder engagement, and research opportunities, thereby driving the implementation of evidence-based SUD interventions and improving outcomes for individuals within the criminal-legal system. This study is part of the NIH’s Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) initiative to speed scientific solutions to the national opioid public health crisis. The NIH HEAL Initiative bolsters research across NIH to improve treatment for opioid misuse and addiction.