On April 30, 2018, former Mayor Catherine E. Pugh and former Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen were joined by the leadership of Baltimore City’s 11 acute-care hospitals to launch the Levels of Care for Baltimore City Hospitals Responding to the Opioid Epidemic.  The Levels of Care initiative provides a shared evidence-based framework for hospitals as they look to achieve best practices in several areas in response to the opioid epidemic. As of 2021, the Baltimore City Health Department recognizes the achievements of 10 acute-care hospitals in Baltimore City that implement evidence-based best practices in the fight against addiction and overdose death.

We are in the midst of the deadliest drug epidemic in American history, and Baltimore City—with the highest age-adjusted overdose fatality rate of any metropolitan county in the United States—is one of its epicenters. Between 2011 and 2017, the number of overdose deaths in Baltimore more than quadrupled according to the Maryland Department of Health. Fentanyl-related deaths in particular have continued to rise at an astonishing rate. There were 12 fentanyl-related deaths in 2013 out of 246 total overdose deaths, however, in 2016 that number increased to 419 fentanyl-related deaths out of a total of 694 overdose deaths (including alcohol).  The increase in overdose death between 2017 and 2020 is astronomical. Baltimore City saw 1,028 overdose deaths in 2020, with 920 being fentanyl-related. 

Baltimore City has historically responded to the opioid crisis aggressively and continues to do so. There are 2 blanket standing orders for residents, one issued by the state of Maryland and the other issued by Baltimore City's Health Commissioner to increase access to naloxone. The state’s first Crisis Stabilization Center was opened in Baltimore City in April 2018. The Baltimore Police Department (BPD) partnered with Behavioral Health
System Baltimore (BHSB), the Office of the State’s Attorney (OSA), the Office of the Public Defender, the Division of Parole and Probation, and the Baltimore City Health Department to launch the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion program which allows those arrested for low-level drug offenses to choose treatment over prosecution. A rapid response system was created that sends outreach teams with naloxone to any neighborhood experiencing a spike in overdoses.

Baltimore City’s hospitals, for their part, are national leaders in the fight against addiction and overdose death. With the help of strong partnerships, almost all of the city’s emergency departments now screen all patients for addiction, offer treatment on-demand for patients who screen positive, and employ peer recovery specialists to connect these patients with ongoing care in the community. 

The Central Role of Hospitals

Hospitals play a central role in responding to the opioid epidemic. Many people with opioid use disorder move through U.S. hospitals every year, and the services that hospitals do or do not provide to these patients have a significant effect on their morbidity and mortality. Hospitals can, in addition, affect the number of Americans who develop opioid use disorder in the first place.

In recent years, the rate of opioid-related emergency department visits and inpatient stays has increased dramatically, rising by 99 and 64 percent, respectively, from 2005 to 2014. Between 2015 and 2016, overdose-related emergency department visits rose by more than 5 percent per quarter across the country. Approximately 15 percent of all hospital patients have a substance use disorder. And, according to a study published in Health Affairs last year, the in-hospital mortality rate for patients admitted with an opioid-related diagnosis—in other words, the likelihood that an opioid-related hospital admission ends in death—has more than quadrupled over the last two decades, from less than .5 percent in 1999 to more than 2 percent in 2014. 

In light of these trends, hospitals’ opioid-related policies and protocols have become increasingly important. There is evidence for the efficacy of a slate of different hospital interventions. Most immediately, hospitals can help patients at high risk for overdose by prescribing or dispensing naloxone, the medication that reverses an opioid overdose. In one study, nearly one-third of emergency department patients who received naloxone and later witnessed an overdose used their naloxone to save the person’s life.

Hospitals can also effectively treat the disease—opioid use disorder—of which opioid overdose is a symptom. A 2015 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, for example, found that initiating addiction treatment for patients in the emergency department, rather than simply referring them to treatment at a community-based provider, led to a dramatic increase in the likelihood that patients were still engaged in treatment 30 days later—78 percent compared to 45 percent. Another study, also from the Journal of the American Medical Association, found similar results for initiating addiction treatment for inpatients; 6 months after the intervention, median opioid use (measured by days of use within the last 30 days) was nearly 75 percent lower among patients who received treatment. Addiction consult services—often the vehicle for addiction treatment in a hospital setting—are broadly effective: in diagnosing addiction, initiating treatment for it, and linking patients to ongoing care. Recently, both hospitals and community-based providers have begun to employ peer recovery specialists—people themselves in recovery from addiction—to support patients diagnosed with substance use disorder on their journeys to recovery. While a new practice, peers appear to improve the efficacy of treatment along multiple dimensions. 

Treating those who already have opioid use disorder is paramount—especially in Baltimore, where the number of residents with opioid use disorder is in Baltimore, where the number of residents with opioids use disorder is very high. It is also true, however, that hospitals have a role to play in preventing new cases of opioid use disorder. For many people with opioid use disorder, their first opioid was a prescription painkiller. Different mechanisms for reducing opioid prescribing are being tested across the country; there’s even evidence that guidelines alone can reduce the prescribing rate.

Building on Progress through Levels of Care

Baltimore’s hospitals are national leaders in the fight against addiction and overdose death. The Levels of Care build upon this progress. They will recognize what the city’s hospitals have already achieved and provide a shared framework for ongoing improvement. They involve identifying evidence-based best practices for responding to the opioid epidemic and publicly recognizing those hospitals that successfully implement them.

Developed with active input from hospitals, the levels will be scored on numerous evidence-based criteria, such as hospitals’ ability to provide treatment to any patient who screens positive for addiction, distribute naloxone to patients, connect patients with peers or other support services, and ensure physicians are prescribing opioids judiciously.  A hospital can be level 3, 2, or 1—with a level 1 hospital offering the most comprehensive response.

The initiative is based on a similar program in Rhode Island, one of the only places in the country where overdose deaths went down in 2016, rather than up. All Rhode Island hospitals will soon qualify for at least one of the Rhode Island Department of Health’s three levels of care.

Levels of Care for Baltimore City Hospitals Responding to the Opioid Epidemic 

Current Levels of Care Designations *Updated October 4, 2022

The Levels of Care have been finalized and the application has closed as of October 2022. The Baltimore City Health Department will work with participating hospitals to implement the various components of the Levels of Care. Any hospital that meets a given Level will be formally recognized for its achievement.

Resources

• Levels of Care Guide