ArticleHarm reduction journal2017
Mitigating the heroin crisis in Baltimore, MD, USA: a cost-benefit analysis of a hypothetical supervised injection facility.
Article in Harm reduction journal, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 35 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
35 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Supervised consumption sites and population-level overdose mortality: a systematic review of recent evidence, 2016-2024.Health promotion and chronic disease prevention in Canada : research, policy and practice · 2025Pooled it
- Economic Evaluations of Establishing Opioid Overdose Prevention Centers in 12 North American Cities: A Systematic Review.Value in health : the journal of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research · 2024Pooled it
- Association of skin infections with sharing of injection drug preparation equipment among people who inject drugs.The International journal on drug policy · 2021Trial
- County by county estimation of possible deaths averted, infections averted, and cost savings of overdose prevention centers in the United States from July 2019-June 2025.The International journal on drug policy · 2026Article
- County by county estimation of possible deaths averted, infections averted, and cost savings of overdose prevention centers in the United States from July 2019-June 2025.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Article
- Allocative efficiency analysis of strategies to reduce overdose deaths among people with opioid use disorder and history of incarceration in Connecticut.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Methicillin-resistantJournal of the American College of Emergency Physicians open · 2025Article
- Article
- Modeling the impact of a supervised consumption site on HIV and HCV transmission among people who inject drugs in three counties in California, USA.The International journal on drug policy · 2024Article
- Cost-effectiveness of drug consumption rooms in France: a modelling study.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Community-Based Services for Hospitalized Patients With Serious Injection-Related Infections in Alabama: A Brief Report.Open forum infectious diseases · 2024Article
- A new innovative method to measure the cost of war: future with fewer conflicts via harm reduction approaches.Cost effectiveness and resource allocation : C/E · 2024Article
- The estimated costs and benefits of a hypothetical supervised consumption site in Providence, Rhode Island.The International journal on drug policy · 2022Article
- A pilot study of a mixed-method approach to design an ED-based peer mHealth referral tool for HIV/HCV and opioid overdose prevention services.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2022Article
- Acceptability of Overdose Prevention Sites in the Business Community in Baltimore, Maryland.Journal of urban health : bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine · 2022Article
- Supervised consumption site enables cost savings by avoiding emergency services: a cost analysis study.Harm reduction journal · 2022Article
- Building Equitable Community-Academic Partnerships for Opioid Recovery Research: Lessons Learned from Stakeholder Engagement With Peer and Provider Organizations.Journal of community engagement and scholarship · 2022Article
- Factors associated with injury and blood-borne infection risk when providing assisted injection among people who inject drugs.The International journal on drug policy · 2021Article
- Feasibility, acceptability, concerns, and challenges of implementing supervised injection services at a specialty HIV hospital in Toronto, Canada: perspectives of people living with HIV.BMC public health · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundIn Baltimore, MD, as in many cities throughout the USA, overdose rates are on the rise due to both the increase of prescription opioid abuse and that of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids in the drug market. Supervised injection facilities (SIFs) are a widely implemented public health intervention throughout the world, with 97 existing in 11 countries worldwide. Research has documented the public health, social, and economic benefits of SIFs, yet none exist in the USA. The purpose of this study is to model the health and financial costs and benefits of a hypothetical SIF in Baltimore.
methodsWe estimate the benefits by utilizing local health data and data on the impact of existing SIFs in models for six outcomes: prevented human immunodeficiency virus transmission, Hepatitis C virus transmission, skin and soft-tissue infection, overdose mortality, and overdose-related medical care and increased medication-assisted treatment for opioid dependence.
resultsWe predict that for an annual cost of $1.8 million, a single SIF would generate $7.8 million in savings, preventing 3.7 HIV infections, 21 Hepatitis C infections, 374 days in the hospital for skin and soft-tissue infection, 5.9 overdose deaths, 108 overdose-related ambulance calls, 78 emergency room visits, and 27 hospitalizations, while bringing 121 additional people into treatment.
conclusionsWe conclude that a SIF would be both extremely cost-effective and a significant public health and economic benefit to Baltimore City.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.