Relevant Literature

“The prevalence of OUD among Veterans Health Administration (VA)-treated veterans is almost seven times that of the commercially insured [10], making veterans a population of special interest and in special need. Veterans are more likely than the general population to have risk factors for OUD and overdose. For example, chronic pain is more common and more severe in veterans than in non-veterans, affecting about half of veterans in VA care [63,119]. Among veterans, pain is often complicated by high rates of mental illness, including SUDs, which increases the risk of misusing opioids to treat pain, depression, and serious mental illness [125,131]. As opioid prescribing rose in VA health care, opioid overdoses also increased. Veterans treated in the VA were almost twice as likely to die by overdose as the general population [17]. Among service members returning from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, there has been concern about misuse of prescription opioids initiated to treat service-related injuries [77]. Even among non-deployed active duty service members, prescription drug misuse almost tripled from 2005 to 2008 [21]. In those being treated by the VA between 2003 and 2010, OUD diagnoses increased by 45% [126]”