Treatment of Pain and Addiction - Active Research

PI: Lindsay Sabik
Funding source: NIH/AHRQ - 5R01HS029170
Dates: 2023-2027
Description: For patients with advanced cancer, pain is a common and disabling symptom for which opioids remain a mainstay of treatment. The current epidemic of opioid misuse and addiction has led to widespread changes in opioid-related policies, and the impacts of these policies on patients with advanced cancer near end of life are not well understood. This project is a national comparative study of the experiences of adults with advanced cancer at the end of life. Using insurance claims and a comparative approach to state-level opioid policies, this study will assess how different state policies related to opioid prescribing affects patient access to pain management, especially with regard to historically underserved patients. This project, led by Dr. Lindsay Sabik and former PaRC faculty member Yael Schenker, will seek to understand those policies and their impacts, with a goal of informing how state-level opioid policies can be structured to ensure safe and equitable opioid access for the roughly 600,000 adults who die from cancer annually in the United States.
Related Studies: N/A
Publications: Geographic and Sociodemographic Disparities in Access to Hospice in Pennsylvania