A Stanford team of decision scientists with colleagues at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System developed a mathematical model to assess the cost-effectiveness of various interventions to treat opioid use disorder. They looked at the cost-effectiveness from two perspectives: the health-care sector and the criminal justice system.
Eran Bendavid says the results of his work are a departure from a previous study. Earlier research found giving preventative drugs to large groups of gay men at high risk for HIV was not cost-effective when compared with other commonly accepted programs.