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Monitoring Drug-Involved Hospital Visits in Minnesota

Access to real-time data is needed to adequately address public health responses to the drug overdose epidemic.

In the November issue of Health Affairs, Riley Shearer of the University of Minnesota and colleagues describe a data-sharing collaboration initiative in Minnesota during the COVID-19 pandemic.

They find that this initiative, which was adapted to monitor trends in substance use–related hospital and emergency department (ED) visits, shows that “[electronic health record (EHR)] data can be used to generate near-real-time information on substance use-related health care use.”

Among other findings, they find that hospital and ED visits involving methamphetamine had the most pronounced increase over time, and that in Hennepin County, Minnesota, Native American, Black, and multiple-race people experienced the highest rates of drug-involved hospital and ED visits.

The authors note that these findings suggest that monitoring drug-involved health care use through EHR data can help address the drug overdose epidemic.

Author Riley Shearer also contributed a Datawatch study from June 2022 that investigates COVID-19 vaccination rates among people experiencing homelessness and incarceration in Minnesota.

Applying An Evidence-Based Approach To Comprehensive Dementia Care Under The New GUIDE Model

Kristin Lees Haggerty et al.

Home-Based Care In Medicare Advantage, Part 1: New Policy Authorities And Market Activity

Montgomery Smith et al.

Home-Based Care In Medicare Advantage, Part 2: Policy Recommendations For Equity And Longitudinal Care Experiences

Montgomery Smith et al.

Throughout the rest of 2023, join us for the following events:

• November 27: Journal Club: Studies Of Prescription Digital Therapeutics Often Lack Rigor And Inclusivity
  
• November 28: Policy Spotlight: One-on-One with Nora Volkow, Director, National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health
• December 5: Issue Briefing: Global Lessons From COVID-19
• December 13: Lunch and Learn: The Global Impacts of PEPFAR and Consequences of Deprioritization
• December 19: Journal Club: “Substantial Disparities In COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake And Unmet Immunization Demand In Low And Middle-Income Countries”

With today's featured journal article focusing on health information technology, get the full story by exploring our extensive archive of podcasts on this topic.

Take a look below at a few highlighted episodes:

• Research and Justice For All: How the Private Sector Can Address Health Equity (October 2023)
• A Health Podyssey: Matthew McCoy on Hospital Websites Tracking Your Data (April 2023)
• Health Affairs This Week: Tackling Bias in Health Care Algorithms (December 2022)
• A Health Podyssey: Michael Sun on Racial Biases Hiding in EHRs (February 2022)