Resource Library

In 2020, the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) funded contractors Mathematica and the University of Connecticut Health Center to conduct a study of factors associated with opioid use among U.S. workers.

The first report from this study, Factors Contributing to Variation in Nonmedical Use of Prescription Pain Relievers Among U.S. Workers: 2004-2014, analyzed secondary data to understand how nonmedical use of prescription pain relievers varied across states, industries and occupations, and other worker characteristics.

The report provides the results of an analysis of secondary data to understand how nonmedical use of prescription pain relievers varied across states, industries and occupations, and other worker characteristics.

The report provides the findings of the implementation of a quasi-experimental design to understand how changing labor market conditions associated with the pandemic affect opioid use.

The report describes the National Health Emergency (NHE) Demonstration Grants to Address the Opioid Crisis: Implementation Evaluation findings and considers lessons learned and practices that appear potentially promising for future efforts to provide workforce services and system investments to support people directly and indirectly affected by the opioid crisis.

Employers seeking to have recovery-friendly work places might have questions about how to better support their employees who are recovering from a substance-use disorder. Small- and medium-sized employers, in particular, might not have sufficient capacity or expertise in human resources to address potential issues that can arise.

Community health workers (CHWs) and peer recovery specialists (PRSs) can play an important role in meeting the health care needs of people with opioid use disorder. Registered apprenticeship programs, an “earn while you learn” approach, can help build a certified workforce of CHWs and PRSs by providing classroom and on-the-job training.

The workforce system offers work readiness training through nearly 2,400 American Job Centers (AJCs) nationwide. However, people in recovery can face unique barriers to employment not covered in traditional work readiness curricula. The brief focuses on an innovative effort, funded through a National Health Emergency Dislocated Worker Demonstration Grant to Address the Opioid Crisis to the state of New Hampshire, to adapt work readiness training for people in recovery.

By developing partnerships with behavioral health providers, the workforce system can reduce barriers to accessing employment and training services for people in recovery by providing these services on-site at locations where potential participants already gather and are comfortable. The brief highlights an innovative effort, funded through a National Health Emergency Dislocated Worker Demonstration Grant to Address the Opioid Crisis to the state of Pennsylvania, to provide employment services in opioid treatment clinics.

The report highlights the most promising policies, strategies, and practices for opioid prescription management between 2014 and 2019. The environmental scan covered approaches applied in workers’ compensation programs and other health care settings, such as health insurance programs and health care systems.

The supplemental resource to the Workers' Compensation and the Opioid Epidemic: State of the Field in Opioid Prescription Management Final Report that provides detailed information on each of the reviewed studies (with sort-and-filter capabilities) that covered approaches applied in workers’ compensation programs and other health care settings, such as health insurance programs and health care systems.