Abt Team to Research Management of Older Adults' Opioid Use

Wins $3.28M Award from AHRQ

October 8, 2019

Rockville, Md. – The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has awarded an Abt Global-led team a $3.28 million contract to identify and test strategies for management of opioid use and misuse in older adults in primary care practices. The work expands Abt’s AHRQ, opioid and primary care portfolio.

Under the four-year contract, the Abt team will assess and describe the field of opioid use, misuse and opioid use disorders in older adults. Contrary to trends among younger Americans, opioid misuse has increased among older Americans in recent years.

The Abt team will analyze secondary data sources, including AHRQ’s Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, perform an environmental scan, and conduct a national survey of geriatric primary care providers. In addition, the team will develop a compendium of strategies and support two sequential 15-month learning collaboratives of primary care practices. The team will provide support during the implementation and testing of the compendium of strategies developed from the environmental scan.

The project will produce a publicly available compendium and information products such as peer-reviewed publications and infographics or case studies to enable primary care providers to offer older adults better pain management and opioid treatment.

Abt’s partner is Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle.

“Older adults have injuries and chronic conditions that often leave them in great pain,” notes Rosanna Bertrand, Ph.D., an associate in Abt’s Division of Health and Environment. “They often need pain medication but are vulnerable to adverse reactions due to their metabolism, physiology, comorbidities, and drug interactions. Primary care providers need to know best practices for opioid management to mitigate against the risks for older adults.”

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