Hosted by the Justice Community Opioid Innovation Network (JCOIN), this webinar will feature presentations from key researchers who will summarize the Cascade of Care framework, how it works, and how it can be applied to support individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD) or those that are at risk of developing OUD, specifically in justice settings.

Over 20 million people in the United States meet the criteria for a substance use disorder (SUD). Rates of SUD are significantly higher among justice-involved populations. Research suggests that approximately 58% of individuals in state prison and 63% in jail meet the criteria for a SUD, yet only 22-28% will receive any form of treatment during incarceration. 

The Cascade of Care framework has emerged throughout medicine to help manage and treat chronic diseases. The framework was first developed for the treatment of HIV and has since been adapted as a model to monitor the progression of other chronic conditions such as substance use disorders (SUD), specifically OUD. The OUD Cascade of Care framework provides a structural model to help communities identify interventions across four domains: prevention, identification, treatment, and recovery. The framework also provides a unified set of quality measures to treat individuals with OUD, including engagement in care, initiation of medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD), retention in treatment, and remission.