Section 3: The Intervention An outline of an intervention you would implement to address the population health problem with your selected population based on the results of the study in Section 2 (Note: If you selected a descriptive study design, you are still required to outline an intervention that might be developed based on future research.) A review of the literature that supports this intervention Section 4: The Impact An explanation of the health outcome you would be seeking and the social impact of solving this issue

Section 3: The Intervention An outline of an intervention you would implement to address the population health problem with your selected population based on the results of the study in Section 2 (Note: If you selected a descriptive study design, you are still required to outline an intervention that might be developed based on future research.) A review of the literature that supports this intervention Section 4: The Impact An explanation of the health outcome you would be seeking and the social impact of solving this issue

The opioid use disorder (OUD) or the opioid use epidemic is a serious public health issue that continues to increase costs on the healthcare system, lead to morbidity and mortality, and exert pressure on limited healthcare resources, especially personnel. While initially aimed at helping patients with chronic and terminal illnesses relieve pain, these drugs have become a public health concern because of their addictive nature that has led to their abuse by nonelderly and those without terminal conditions. Effective interventions are essential to helping the health care system deal with this problem. Such interventions must be supported by research evidence based on the kind of studies conducted from existing literature (Fischer et al., 2021). The purpose of this assignment is to outline an intervention to address the opioid crisis as a population health issue. The paper offers a literature review to support the proposed intervention and discusses its impact on the opioid crisis.

Section 3: The Intervention

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (2021) asserts that the opioid overdose crisis claimed over 50,000 individuals in the U.S. in 2019. The institute observes that this crisis impacts public health and the social and economic welfare of the individuals, families, communities, and the nation because of the increased cost burden estimated to be over $78 billion each year. Every day, at least 90 Americans die prematurely from an overdose that involves an opioid, leaving families and friends bereft. The implication is that using a proven intervention program will help avail resources to state and local governments to develop strategies aimed at easing access to medication and other measures to reduce addiction and associated problems. The proposed intervention is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevent (CDC) program called “Prevention for States” that seeks to provide sufficient resources and support to states to address the issue. The approach is a critical component of reducing prevalence through a raft of measures by selected states to roll out to the rest to enhance surveillance and management of the opioid crisis.

The intervention allows CDC to offer annual grants of up to $1 million to cater for prevention of the problem in four key areas. States getting the awards collaborate with key partners to maximize efforts and tackle issues that influence and impact prescription and drug overdoses. These areas include the maximization of prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs), community and insurer health systems interventions, policy evaluations, and rapid response projects (CDC, 2021). The intervention by CDC is essential as it allows different partners and stakeholders to participate through various strategies to prevent the problem. Maximizing PDMPs ensures that they move to universal registration and use, ease use and access to the programs, having timely data on trends and research interventions to tackle the problem, expansion, and improvement of the reporting mechanism to recognize and address inappropriate prescription patterns and trends and using the data to have a better understanding about the nature of OUD.

The intervention also entails having insurers and community health care providers get technical assistance in most affected areas, enhancing opioid prescribing aspects for insurers and health systems, and improving the utilization of evidence-based guidelines on prescribing opioids. The use of policy interventions entails having a better understanding of working strategies to prevent prescription drug overdose problems. The CDC intervention’s fourth area is to execute a project that advances an innovative prevention approach in responding to emerging crises and opportunities.

The intervention is critical as it allows states to develop programs that align with the level of severity of the opioid use disorder within their jurisdictions. Effective management of health problems impacting a population requires scientific and proven ways (Strain et al., 2018). This is evident through using policies and protocols that align every effort to achieve a common goal and offer long-term impact for the affected population. Population health management requires the development of policy interventions that mandate wide acceptance and reforms to enhance access to critical resources by affected individuals and families.

In their response to the opioid crisis, the Health and Human Services Department and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (2021) focus on an array of interventions in different areas. These include enhancing access to treatment and recovery services as core components of managing the epidemic, promotion of overdose-reverse drugs, and increasing the level of awareness and understanding of the epidemic through public health surveillance (Orgera & Tolbert, 2019.) The need to support cutti