Date of Award

2020

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Health Administration

College

College of Health Professions

First Advisor

Jillian B. Harvey

Second Advisor

Kit N. Simpson

Third Advisor

Lynn Carpenter

Abstract

The problem that we face as a nation is the increasing cases of opiate overdoses (CDC, 2019). Regulations vary across state lines regarding patient needs and prescribing regulations. The current study addresses closing the gaps in opioid use disorder. The overarching research question for this study is—How are Narcan policies related to the drug’s utilization? Other questions in this study will be explored through analysis of national claims data. The study population consist of beneficiaries who have received a prescription for Narcan in 2016. The data includes Narcan prescriptions across state lines as well as the Narcan access law. Using the MarketScan Commercial Database we look at patient claims from states that do not have a Narcan access law and states with a Narcan access law. The study included a total of 3,756,833 prescriptions for naloxone and opioids (14,210, 0.38%), naloxone only (1660, 0.04%), and opioids only (3,740,963, 99.6%) provided to privately insured individuals in 2016. In total, 7448 Naloxone prescriptions by State Policy Status were dispensed in 2016. The odds of receiving a Naloxone prescription in access law states presented 40% greater than the states without the access law in 2016. This study will add to the literature concerning the misuse of prescription and illicit opioids.

Rights

All rights reserved. Copyright is held by the author.

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