Grant: CIHR Fellowship

HEALTH PROBLEM: Opioid poisoning has claimed more than 45,500 Canadian lives since 2016. In response to this growing public health emergency, several Canadian provinces, including Ontario, have recently announced investments in residential treatment programs for opioid use disorder. While this investment is critical, it's important to ensure that patients are receiving access to the best care available. Although the best evidence for treating opioid use disorder supports using drug therapy with opioid agonists, treatment options across residential programs are known to vary greatly in their integration of opioid agonist therapy. With governments shifting towards investments in residential treatment programs, evidence on how care accessed through residential programs differs from that received in the community is urgently needed. RESEARCH SOLUTION: To improve the evidence for residential treatment programs, my research will use newly linked healthcare data in Ontario to address who gets access to this limited resource, how treatment for opioid use disorder differs in residential and community care, and what impact the care setting has on patient health outcomes. This research will be guided by a diverse group of people with lived experience, researchers, and clinicians with expertise in substance use to ensure its relevance. IMPORTANCE OF THIS RESEARCH: Deaths from Canada's toxic unregulated drug supply are preventable. As harms continue to rise, and government investments shift towards treatment-focused approaches across the country, it is more important than ever to generate timely real-world evidence on the accessibility, effectiveness, and safety of evolving opioid treatment options.