Medicaid Expansion and Opioid Use Seminar

Alex Gertner, MD/PhD candidate in the Department of Health Policy and Management and Injury and Violence Prevention Fellow at the UNC Injury Prevention Research Center, will present a talk titled “Did Medicaid Expansion Increase Use of Opioid Agonist Treatments for Opioid Use Disorder?”

Abstract: Opioid agonist treatment (OAT) for opioid use disorder reduces the risk of overdose mortality. Nevertheless, OAT remains vastly underutilized, even as deaths from opioid overdoses continue to devastate communities. Alex will present a study of whether Medicaid expansion increased use of OAT and the extent to which provider capacity constraints limited the effect of expansion on OAT use.

Alex Gertner is a MD/PhD candidate in the Department of Health Policy and Management at UNC. Prior to coming to UNC, he received a BA in Anthropology from Princeton University and worked for Human Rights Watch. He is the recipient of a National Research Service Award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse and of an Injury and Violence Prevention Fellowship from the UNC Injury Prevention Research Center. Alex researches the effects of state and federal policies on outcomes related to mental health and addiction.

Please register online.

This event is sponsored by the UNC Opioid Student Research Group.