Author: mfwaugh

From the Justice Community Overdose Innovation Network Newsletter, March 2025In a recent study published in Implementation Science, researchers from JCOIN’s Coordination and Translation Center (CTC) examined strategies to provide more effective technical assistance models to help jails implement medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) and enhance public safety. The JCOIN trial tested three technical assistance …

In January 2023, SAMHSA announced that clinicians no longer need a federal waiver to prescribe buprenorphine for treating opioid use disorder. However, clinicians are still required to register with the Drug Enforcement Agency to prescribe controlled medications. Beginning June 27, 2023, new and renewing prescribers will have to confirm that they have completed a new, …

Recent projects have used the NIATx approach to explore coaching, how patients use mobile health apps, and how to recruit prescribers for medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD). Coaching as an implementation strategy What makes coaching effective for implementing a new practice or application?  To find out, the study team first interviewed nine experienced NIATx …

The opioid epidemic has had a disproportionate impact on the nation’s criminal justice (CJ) population. Justice-involved individuals with opioid use disorders (OUD) desperately need evidence-based translational practices to implement medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD), a clinical practice that is underused in CJ settings.  As part of the Justice Community Opioid Innovation Network’s (JCOIN) Implementational …

The NIATx Dental Pilot study tested using the NIATx model for organizational change to reduce appointment no-shows in dental care settings. The NIATx model was applied through a multisite learning collaborative that engaged participating organizations in adopting targeted no-show best practices. The primary outcome measure was no-show data collected at the preintervention phase (5 months), …

The LINK system integrates three evidence-based implementation science approaches: (a) practice bundle, (b) process checklist, and (c) standardized organizational change model (NIATx). This integrated implementation approach improved withdrawal management to continuing care transition rates from 20 (baseline average) to 43% (post-intervention) in (n = 6) Wisconsin withdrawal management centers. Read the complete article published in …

Expanding use of medications for opioid use disorder, MOUD, particularly in criminal justice settings (CJS) remains a persistent challenge for many reasons, including stigma, funding for MOUD, availability treatment providers, leadership support, and the historical preference for behavioral therapy-based treatment practices. The University of Wisconsin’s Center for Health Enhancement and Systems Studies (CHESS) and George …

Before mental health or addiction treatment providers launch telehealth services, researchers in the Center for Health Enhancement Systems Studies (CHESS) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison can offer training and preparation guided by detailed, proven healthcare systems engineering models.

Gustafson’s thoughtful, dutiful approach to his research helped him demonstrate the relevancy of industrial engineering solutions to healthcare challenges back in the 1960s—and then play a major role in establishing UW-Madison as an international leader in health systems engineering. So it’s only fitting that the ISyE department chair will now bear his name.