Syringe services programs in the Bluegrass: Evidence of population health benefits using Kentucky Medicaid data.

Purpose: To evaluate whether Kentucky counties that established a new syringe services program realized a significant decline in the incidence rate of a set of infectious disease diagnoses commonly transmitted via injection drug use.

Methods: Longitudinal count models of within-county rates of newly diagnosed infections among populations at risk were estimated using Medicaid claims/encounters data. Generalized estimating equation models were used to report incident rate ratios of 6 diagnoses: (1) HIV; (2) hepatitis C; (3) hepatitis B; (4) osteomyelitis; (5) endocarditis; and (6) skin/soft tissue infection.