Laws Limiting Access to SNAP Benefits for People With Felony Drug Convictions: A Policy-Mapping Study.

To map US state Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) bans for individuals with felony drug convictions between 2004 and 2021. Using standard legal-mapping methodology, we categorized states as maintaining the lifetime ban imposed by federal law, modifying the lifetime ban, or fully opting out of the lifetime ban in each year. Among states with modified bans in 2021, we coded types of modifications.

Protocol: A mixed-methods study to evaluate implementation and outcomes of U.S. state telemental health policy expansion during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: Until the COVID-19 pandemic, it had not been possible to examine the effect of rapid policy changes surrounding telemental health on patient-reported mental health care access, costs, symptoms, and functioning. Sizable variation in telemental health use by patient race-ethnicity, age, and rurality, and in its adoption across healthcare settings, underscores the need to study equitable dissemination and implementation of high-quality telemental health services in the real world. This protocol describes an explanatory sequential mixed-methods study that aims to examine the effects of state telemental health policy expansion on patient-reported mental health outcomes, as well as the policy-to-practice pathway from the perspectives of state leaders, clinicians, and staff who care for underserved patients.

Effects of Texas State Agency Integration on Mental Health Service Use Among Individuals with Co-occurring Cognitive Disabilities and Mental Health Conditions.

This study uses Texas's 2017 integration of the state disability and mental health agencies as a case study, combining interviews with Texas agency and advocacy organization leaders to examine perceptions of agency integration and augmented synthetic control analyses of 2014-2020 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey to examine impacts on mental health service use among individuals with co-occurring cognitive disabilities (including intellectual and developmental disabilities) and mental health conditions. Interviewees described the intensive process of agency integration and identified primarily positive (e.g.

Interagency Coordination to Manage Co-Occurring Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and Mental Health Conditions.

Objective: The authors aimed to identify barriers to and strategies for supporting coordination between state agencies for intellectual and developmental disability (IDD) or mental health to meet the mental health needs of people with co-occurring IDD and mental health conditions.

Methods: Forty-nine employees of state agencies as well as advocacy and service delivery organizations across 11 U.S.

Licensure Policies May Help States Ensure Access To Opioid Use Disorder Medication In Specialty Addiction Treatment.

Despite the devastating toll of the overdose crisis in the United States, many addiction treatment programs do not offer medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD). Several states have incorporated MOUD requirements into their standards for treatment program licensure. This study examined policy officials' and treatment providers' perspectives on the implementation of these policies.

Navigating addiction treatment during COVID-19: policy insights from state health leaders.

To mitigate pandemic-related disruptions to addiction treatment, US federal and state governments made significant changes to policies regulating treatment delivery. State health agencies played a key role in implementing these policies, giving agency leaders a distinct vantage point on the feasibility and implications of post-pandemic policy sustainment. We interviewed 46 state health agency and other leaders responsible for implementing COVID-19 addiction treatment policies across 8 states with the highest COVID-19 death rate in their census region.

The Association Between State Minimum Wage and Firearm Homicides, 2000-2020.

Introduction: Recent research has indicated an association between both poverty and income inequality and firearm homicides. Increased minimum wages may serve as a strategy for reducing firearm violence by increasing economic security among workers earning low wages and reducing the number of families living in poverty. This study aimed to examine the association between state minimum wage and firearm homicides in the U.

State Reporting Requirements for Involuntary Holds, Court-Ordered Guardianship, and the US National Firearm Background Check System.

Importance: Firearm violence is a leading cause of death in the US. There is broad public agreement that individuals at high risk of perpetrating violence should not be allowed to purchase or possess firearms. The National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) is a national system intended to stop firearm purchases or possession by prohibited persons, but there is heterogeneity in how states interact with and report data to NICS.

Trends in Opioid Use Disorder Outpatient Treatment and Telehealth Utilization Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Objective: The authors examined trends in opioid use disorder treatment and in-person and telehealth modalities before and after COVID-19 pandemic onset among patients who had received treatment prepandemic.

Methods: The sample included 13,113 adults with commercial insurance or Medicare Advantage and receiving opioid use disorder treatment between March 2018 and February 2019. Trends in opioid use disorder outpatient treatment, treatment with medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD), and in-person and telehealth modalities were examined 1 year before pandemic onset and 2 years after (March 2019-February 2022).

Effects of U.S. State Medical Cannabis Laws on Treatment of Chronic Noncancer Pain.

Background: State medical cannabis laws may lead patients with chronic noncancer pain to substitute cannabis in place of prescription opioid or clinical guideline-concordant nonopioid prescription pain medications or procedures.

Objective: To assess effects of state medical cannabis laws on receipt of prescription opioids, nonopioid prescription pain medications, and procedures for chronic noncancer pain.

Design: Using data from 12 states that implemented medical cannabis laws and 17 comparison states, augmented synthetic control analyses estimated laws' effects on receipt of chronic noncancer pain treatment, relative to predicted treatment receipt in the absence of the law.

Medicare Changes in Response to COVID-19: Unintended Effects for Beneficiaries With Mental Illness or Substance Use Disorders.

Objective: The authors explored potential unintended consequences of Medicare policy changes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic for beneficiaries with behavioral health care needs.

Methods: The authors collected policies relevant to mental health and substance use care. Informed by a literature review conducted in spring 2022, the authors convened a modified Delphi panel with 13 experts in June 2022.

Effects of state opioid prescribing cap laws on providers' opioid prescribing patterns among patients with chronic non-cancer pain.

Prior work suggests opioid prescribing cap laws are not associated with changes in opioid prescribing among patients with chronic pain. It is unknown how these effects differ by provider specialty, provider opioid prescribing volume, or patient insurer. This study assessed effects of state opioid prescribing cap laws on opioid prescribing among providers of patients with chronic non-cancer pain, by high volume prescribing, provider specialty, and patient insurer.

Development and Implementation of State and Federal Child Welfare Laws Related to Drug Use in Pregnancy.

Unlabelled: Policy Points Over the past several decades, states have adopted policies intended to address prenatal drug use. Many of these policies have utilized existing child welfare mechanisms despite potential adverse effects. Recent federal policy changes were intended to facilitate care for substance-exposed infants and their families, but state uptake has been incomplete.

Effects of Opioid Prescribing Cap Laws on Opioid and Other Pain Treatments Among Persons with Chronic Pain.

Background: Many states have adopted laws that limit the amount or duration of opioid prescriptions. These limits often focus on prescriptions for acute pain, but there may be unintended consequences for those diagnosed with chronic pain, including reduced opioid prescribing without substitution of appropriate non-opioid treatments.

Objective: To evaluate the effects of state opioid prescribing cap laws on opioid and non-opioid treatment among those diagnosed with chronic pain.

Impact of Changes to Concealed-Carry Weapons Laws on Fatal and Nonfatal Violent Crime, 1980-2019.

The United States faces rapidly rising rates of violent crime committed with firearms. In this study, we sought to estimate the impact of changes to laws that regulate the concealed carrying of weapons (concealed-carry weapons (CCW) laws) on violent crimes committed with a firearm. We used augmented synthetic control models and random-effects meta-analyses to estimate state-specific effects and the average effect of adopting shall-issue CCW permitting laws on rates of 6 violent crimes: homicide with a gun, homicide by other means, aggravated assault with a gun, aggravated assault with a knife, robbery with a gun, and robbery with a knife.

Association Between State Opioid Prescribing Cap Laws and Receipt of Opioid Prescriptions Among Children and Adolescents.

Importance: High-dose and long-duration opioid prescriptions remain relatively common among children and adolescents, but there is insufficient research on the association of state laws limiting the dose and/or duration of opioid prescriptions (referred to as opioid prescribing cap laws) with opioid prescribing for this group.

Objective: To examine the association between state opioid prescribing cap laws and the receipt of opioid prescriptions among children and adolescents.

Design Setting And Participants: This repeated cross-sectional study used a difference-in-differences approach accounting for staggered policy adoption to assess the association of state opioid prescribing cap laws in the US from January 1, 2013, to December 31, 2019, with receipt of opioid prescriptions among children and adolescents.

Association between U.S. state prenatal drug use laws and child welfare reporting in Alabama, Maryland and Utah.

Background: Over the past decade, states have passed several laws on prenatal drug use, including "maltreatment laws" deeming prenatal drug use child maltreatment, "reporting laws" requiring providers to report prenatal drug use to Child Protective Services (CPS) and "criminalization laws" that criminalize prenatal drug use.

Method: We examined the association between a 2012 Utah maltreatment law, a 2013 Alabama maltreatment and criminalization law, and a 2014 Maryland reporting law on the rate of infant CPS reports using 2010-2017 National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System data. We conducted an event study comparing CPS reporting pre/post law in each treatment state with reporting in a pool of control states over the same period.

Effects of state opioid prescribing cap laws on opioid prescribing after surgery.

Objective: To evaluate the effects of state opioid prescribing cap laws on opioid prescribing after surgery.

Data Sources: OptumLabs Data Warehouse administrative claims data covering all 50 states from July 2012 through June 2019.

Study Design: We included individuals from 20 states that had implemented prescribing cap laws without exemptions for postsurgical pain by June 2019 and individuals from 16 control states plus the District of Columbia.

State and city laws governing the use of child restraint systems in rideshare vehicles and taxicabs: requirements and responsibility.

Objectives: To identify, describe and critique state and local policies related to child passenger safety in for-hire motor vehicles including ridesharing and taxis.

Methods: We used standard legal research methods to collect policies governing the use of child restraint systems (CRS) in rideshare and taxi vehicles for all 50 states and the 50 largest cities in the USA. We abstracted the collected policies to determine whether the policy applies to specific vehicles, requires specific safety restraints in those vehicles, lists specific requirements for use of those safety restraints, seeks to enhance compliance and punishes noncompliance.

Effects of State Opioid Prescribing Laws on Use of Opioid and Other Pain Treatments Among Commercially Insured U.S. Adults.

Background: There is concern that state laws to curb opioid prescribing may adversely affect patients with chronic noncancer pain, but the laws' effects are unclear because of challenges in disentangling multiple laws implemented around the same time.

Objective: To study the association between state opioid prescribing cap laws, pill mill laws, and mandatory prescription drug monitoring program query or enrollment laws and trends in opioid and guideline-concordant nonopioid pain treatment among commercially insured adults, including a subgroup with chronic noncancer pain conditions.

Design: Thirteen treatment states that implemented a single law of interest in a 4-year period and unique groups of control states for each treatment state were identified.