OPTIC: Opioid Policy Tools and Information Center | View in browser
RAND-USC Schaeffer OPTIC
A National Resource for Opioid Policy Science
Note from the Co-Director
The OPTIC Team is excited to announce release of the OPTIC Simulation Tool—the newest addition to OPTIC's body of public goods. The tool allows users to select from a range of simulation options to explore how different state policy evaluation methods perform on their own longitudinal data. The recent Difference-In-Differences (DID) literature revealed issues with traditional DID models, and there has been an explosion of new methods in this area for researchers to consider. We found it difficult to evaluate the relative performance of different causal inference methods using longitudinal outcome data on opioid mortality and prescribing rates. So we designed a series of simulations to study the performance of various methods under different scenarios for any type of repeated measures outcome data. In Griffin et al. (2021), we use real-world data on opioid mortality rates to assess commonly used DID designs. We identified notable limitations and some promising methods. In Griffin et al. (2022), we demonstrated the importance of controlling for the effects of occurring policies when examining policy effects. Our package can help you assess how co-occurring policies and confounding can affect the performance of statistical models commonly used in state policy evaluations.
The tool's introductory vignette provides a working example of how to use the package, based on the sample overdoses dataset provided with the package.
You will need R (>= 4.1.0) to use this package. You can install it from CRAN with install.packages ("optic") and then by typing library(optic).
Please feel free to share widely with your colleagues, and we always welcome your comments and suggestions at OPTIC@rand.org. – Beth Ann Griffin, Co-Director
OPTIC researchers created this R package tool to help other researchers scrutinize candidate causal inference models using their own longitudinal data.
Explore on rand.org » or Download on GitHub »
This paper studies how the reformulation of OxyContin led to the rise of polysubstance overdose deaths involving non-opioid prescription drugs.
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Researchers conducted a retrospective cohort study to examine the relationship between state buprenorphine policies and clinicians' buprenorphine prescribing trajectories.
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A new Medicare policy may have improved access to methadone and buprenorphine treatment for Medicare beneficiaries with a diagnosed opioid use disorder (OUD) during the COVID-19 pandemic, but further research is needed to determine its impact.
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State-mandated educational requirements beyond the initial training required to prescribe buprenorphine were associated with increased buprenorphine use over time.
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Researchers used a diff-in-diff approach to compare three Medicaid Managed Care networks for buprenorphine providers across specialties and market segments within the same state.
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Researchers used an audit (simulated patient) study methodology to examine appointment-granting behavior by buprenorphine prescribers in ten different U.S. states.
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Buprenorphine treatment remained stable during the pandemic, however the flow of individuals receiving treatment changed significantly, indicating that policy efforts were successful in maintaining existing patients, but did not extend to new patients.
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October 18, 2023
Leading a pre-conference workshop, Navigating the Myriad of Analytic Choices for Policy Evaluation Studies at the Addiction Health Services Research Conference- Rosanna Smart, Megan Schuler, and Beth Ann Griffin
OPTIC is designed to be a national resource, fostering innovative and high-quality research in opioid policy science, and developing and disseminating methods, tools, and information to the research community, policymakers, and other stakeholders.
