Opioids: Program Evaluation Challenges and the Need for New Evaluation Scholarship

The Covid-19 pandemic has complicated efforts to address the US’s opioid crisis with a comprehensive, multi-part federal effort that combines primary medical care, essential support services, outreach to persons who misuse substances, patient engagement, and access to medications for opioid use disorder (OUD). This webinar will focus on how the pandemic is impacting efforts to address the opioid crisis. The panelists will also discuss some of the recommendations of the ASPPH Task Force on Public Health Approaches to the Opioid Crisis and how the pandemic might impact the panel’s recommendations, including its recommendation that a multi-site, multi-institutional collaborative evaluation structure be created that can leverage the strengths of different universities and agencies toward an effective, coordinated approach.