RTI Researchers Introduce New Measure to Track Adverse Events Among Patients Starting Care at Opioid Treatment Programs
Highlights:
- New measure tracks substance use-related hospital visits after opioid treatment begins.
- Study found median 90-day acute care rate was 5%, though rates varied considerably across programs.
- Research team examined data from 1,226 treatment programs across the U.S.
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., Oct. 26, 2026
/PRNewswire/ -- Researchers at RTI International, an independent scientific research institute, have developed a new quality measure that tracks how often people entering opioid treatment programs experience substance use disorder-related emergency department visits or hospitalizations within 90 days of starting treatment.
The research comes as federal and state agencies continue to seek better ways to measure and improve the quality of care for people with opioid use disorder. Opioid treatment programs play a central role in addressing the U.S. opioid overdose epidemic by providing medications for opioid use disorder, including methadone and buprenorphine.
"Quality improvement starts with measurement," said Tami L. Mark, Ph.D., a Distinguished Fellow in behavioral health financing and quality measurement at RTI. "Opioid treatment programs often do not know when their patients are hospitalized or visit an emergency department after beginning care. This measure provides a way to identify those events and compare outcomes across programs, creating opportunities to better understand where additional support may be needed."
The study, published in the journal Addiction, analyzed Medicaid claims from 1,226 opioid treatment programs nationwide during the 2024 measurement year. Researchers examined 412,411 treatment episodes involving nearly 258,000 Medicaid beneficiaries and found that the typical program had a 5% rate of substance use disorder-related emergency department visits or hospitalizations within 90 days of treatment initiation. Rates varied considerably across programs, with the middle 50% of programs ranging from 2.8% to 8.0%.
Among more than 103,300 qualifying acute care events in the 2024 measurement year, 80.2% were emergency department visits and 19.8% were inpatient hospitalizations. Opioid-related disorders were the most frequent principal diagnosis, accounting for 47.4% of events.
"While many existing measures focus on whether patients begin treatment or remain in care, this new measure examines whether patients experience serious substance use-related acute care events after treatment starts," said Barrett Montgomery, Ph.D., a drug use epidemiologist at RTI. "We hope it will complement existing treatment quality metrics and help policymakers, payers and providers identify opportunities to improve care and reduce serious acute care events for people with opioid use disorder."
The research team designed the measure using Medicaid claims data, allowing states, health plans and federal agencies to track outcomes without requiring additional reporting from providers. The measure captures emergency department visits and hospitalizations related to substance use disorders or drug poisoning within the first three months after a patient begins treatment.
The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health through the NIH HEAL Initiative under award number 1RM1DA059375.
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About RTI International
RTI International is an independent scientific research institute dedicated to improving the human condition. Our vision is to address the world's most critical problems with technical and science-based solutions in pursuit of a better future. Clients rely on us to answer questions that demand an objective and multidisciplinary approach—one that integrates expertise across social, statistical, data, and laboratory sciences, engineering, and other technical disciplines to solve the world's most challenging problems. For more information, visit www.rti.org.
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