The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA) launched the HEALing Communities Study (HCS) in 2019 to test the impact of an integrated set of evidence-based interventions for preventing overdose and treating opioid misuse and opioid use disorder in communities highly impacted by the opioid crisis.

The primary aim of the HEALing Communities Study was to determine the impact of a data-driven intervention, known as the Communities That HEAL intervention, that engaged communities to rapidly deploy evidence-based practices to reduce opioid overdose deaths in four states (Kentucky, Massachusetts, New York and Ohio).

As a part of the Communities That HEAL intervention, researchers collaborated with community coalitions to develop the Opioid-Overdose Reduction Continuum of Care Approach (ORCCA) to facilitate the implementation of the evidence-based strategies related to opioid education and naloxone distribution, medication treatment for opioid use disorder, and safer opioid prescribing and dispensing. A guide describing the ORCCA was subsequently developed to aid other communities throughout the country in implementing these evidence-based practices.

Despite facing unforeseen challenges, the HEALing Communities Study successfully engaged communities to select and implement thousands of evidence-based strategies over the course of the intervention, demonstrating how leveraging community partnerships and using data to inform public health decisions can effectively support the uptake of evidence-based strategies at the local level.

The HEALing Communities Study was conducted as a cooperative agreement supported by NIDA—part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH)—and SAMHSA. Launched in 2019, more than 80 scientific papers from HCS can be viewed on PubMed.