Healthcare, Policy, and the Opioid Crisis: Bridging Gaps in Access

This week on EJB Talks, new Bloustein School Assistant Professor Zoe Lindenfeld talks to Dean Stuart Shapiro about her research on substance use disorders, particularly the opioid crisis, and its ties to healthcare access and policy. She explains how her interest in the field was sparked by the opioid epidemic’s emergence as a public health crisis. A particular area of interest in her work is closing gaps in access to treatment, including studying the impact of telemedicine on substance use care. She also delves into her recent study of fiscal determinants of overdose deaths, finding that higher police spending—particularly when linked to revenue-generating practices—correlates with increased overdose deaths. Zoe concludes by discussing the importance of understanding how local government decisions affect health outcomes, emphasizing how healthcare organizations operate within broader communities and policy contexts and further connecting her research to her teaching in health administration.