A new study from Avalere Health shows opioid use disorder (OUD) places tremendous financial and resource burdens on taxpayers and local communities. “The Cost of Addiction: Opioid Use Disorder in the U.S.” is the first-of-its-kind study that reveals state and local governments shoulder >$94 billion annually with Massachusetts, Kentucky, Nevada, and New Hampshire reporting the highest rates.

OUD is diagnosed when individuals experience persistent and ongoing need to use opioids, which can involve prescription or illegal opioids, leading to significant distress or impairment in daily functioning. Approximately 6.1 million people in the U.S. have the disease, but only one in four receive recommended medications for treatment.

“Despite the well-established benefits of OUD therapies, individuals with OUD face significant barriers to treatment,” said Margaret Scott, a Principal at Avalere Health. “Our study shows that barriers to care include physician stigmatizing and expressing reluctance to treat OUD patients, inadequate provider education and training, geographic distances to treatment locations, and social stigma.”

Avalere Health conducted the research and modeled the costs and treatment-savings effects of OUD nationally and by state. The researchers focused their analysis on three key areas:

• Identifying the prevalence of OUD
• Modeling the costs of OUD
• Evaluating the cost savings of four ambulatory OUD treatments (i.e., behavioral therapy alone; behavioral therapy plus methadone; behavioral therapy plus transmucosal buprenorphine; and behavioral therapy plus long-acting injectable [LAI] buprenorphine)

Avalere Health researchers discovered that the U.S. national average cost of OUD per case is nearly $700,000, with over $150,000 borne by government, businesses, and families. Of the treatments evaluated, long-acting injectables with behavioral therapy demonstrated the highest estimated annual per-case savings at $295,000. In the four states with the highest OUD cases, researchers outlined the total federal and state costs*.

“As states and local governments explore new strategies to reduce healthcare costs, encouraging public health, governments, and payers to prioritize OUD treatments can lead to greater savings,” said Michael Ciarametaro, Managing Director at Avalere Health.
To download “The Cost of Addiction: Opioid Use Disorder in the U.S.,” click here.