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  • Teens, Drugs, and Overdose: Contrasting Pre-Pandemic and Current Trends

    Issue Brief

    This brief analyzes the latest CDC data on adolescent overdose deaths, finding that from 2022 to 2023, there was a small reduction in overdose fatalities among adolescents (from 721 to 708 deaths). Additionally, the synthetic opioid, fentanyl, has largely driven the increase in adolescent drug fatalities since the pandemic began, accounting for 76% of these fatalities in 2023. This analysis also explores federal and state policy responses to the drug crisis, such as requirements to stock naloxone in schools, accountability for social media companies, and national prevention education efforts.

  • Opioid Deaths Fell in Mid-2023, But Progress Is Uneven and Future Trends are Uncertain

    Issue Brief

    • In the second half of 2023, opioid overdose deaths started to decline, and by December 2023, they were 20% fewer than there were in December 2022. Opioid death rates varied widely by race, ethnicity, age, and sex. In the second half of 2023, White people saw the largest decline (-14%) while declines in other racial and ethnic groups were much smaller. Opioid deaths increased for people 65+, while falling in all other age groups.

  • 5 Key Facts About Medicaid Coverage for Adults with Mental Illness

    Issue Brief

    Nationwide, an estimated 52 million nonelderly adults live with mental illness, and Medicaid covers nearly one in three (29%) of them, or about 15 million adults. More than 1 in 3 Medicaid enrollees has a mental illness. Mental health treatment rates for Medicaid adults are higher than or similar to those with insurance.

  • State Options for Medicaid Coverage of Inpatient Behavioral Health Services

    Report

    This report provides data to understand current patterns of Medicaid enrollees’ use of inpatient and outpatient substance use disorder and mental health treatment services; explains the options for states to access federal Medicaid funds for enrollees receiving IMD services; analyzes current Section 1115 waiver activity; and draws on interviews with policymakers using IMD waivers in Vermont, Virginia, and San Diego County to examine successes and challenges

  • How Connecting Justice-Involved Individuals to Medicaid Can Help Address the Opioid Epidemic

    Issue Brief

    This issue brief identifies key lessons learned from how four states (Missouri, Ohio, New Mexico, Rhode Island) are connecting people leaving the criminal justice system to Medicaid coverage and services, with a focus on medication-assisted treatment (MAT) and supports for people with opioid use disorder. It builds on previous briefs that assessed state efforts to connect people involved in the justice system to Medicaid coverage. It is based on interviews conducted in late 2018 and early 2019 with state Medicaid, behavioral health, and corrections officials in the four states and in Bernalillo County, New Mexico, as well as interviews with managed care organizations, providers, and advocates in those states and published information on the states’ experiences.