Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder among the Commercially Insured

Leemore Dafny, PhD
Bruce V. Rauner Professor of Business Administration
Harvard Business School and Kennedy School of Government

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There is a robust literature documenting the effects of initiatives to curb opioid prescriptions, but relatively little empirical analysis of the effects of efforts to expand treatment for those with opioid use disorder (OUD), particularly in the commercially-insured population. Using claims data for one-quarter of the commercially-insured, non-elderly U.S. population from 2008-2016, Dafny first documents rates of diagnosed OUD and treatment utilization over time and across age groups. She then explores the effect of insurance mandates requiring benefit parity for OUD treatment on the propensity to access treatment, the type of treatment selected, and clinical and spending outcomes.

HPM Seminar Series is sponsored by the Division of Health Policy & Management, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota.