Title: Costs of implementing the communities that HEAL intervention to reduce opioid overdose deaths in four states

Date: June 26, 2025; 4:00pm – 5:30pm

Location: Online

Speakers:

Bruce Schackman, Ph.D.

Professor of Population Health Sciences

Weill Cornell Medical College

Laura Starbird, Ph.D., RN

Assistant Professor, Family and Community Health

Penn Nursing, University of Pennsylvania

Description: The HEALing Communities Study (HCS) was conducted across four states with the goal of decreasing opioid-related overdose deaths by increasing community-level adoption of evidence-based practices (EBPs). The Communities That HEAL (CTH) intervention delivered in the study provided communities with training, technical assistance, and resources including 1) community engagement to facilitate data-driven EBP selection and implementation, 2) a menu of EBPs to implement, and 3) communication campaigns. In this talk we will describe the methods and results of an economic cost analysis for the 33 communities implementing CTH over a 30-month intervention period in Kentucky, Massachusetts, New York, and Ohio. We will also address approaches and challenges to using these results to conduct cost-effectiveness analyses.