PATHS

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Lead Institution: Rhode Island Hospital—Brown University Health

Status: Active

Research type: Mixed Methods, Implementation, Quasi-Experimental Analysis of Administrative Data

Setting(s): Diversion programs in Philadelphia and Baltimore

PI: Brandon del Pozo

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Police Pathways to Addiction Treatment, Health, and Safety: The Police PATHS Study

Police interactions with people who use drugs (PWUD) often result in arrests for minor offenses, increasing risks such as overdose and other negative health outcomes. Police-assisted diversion (PAD) offers an alternative approach by redirecting individuals to treatment and supportive services, including medications for opioid use disorder. This study examines how PAD is implemented in two cities through interviews with police, PAD participants, and service providers. It identifies factors that shape program effectiveness, compares health outcomes and access to treatment between PAD participants and non-participants, and evaluates whether PAD is more cost-effective than traditional criminal justice responses.

Study Aims

Construct retrospective-implementation-research-logic models for each site to identify implementation determinants, de-facto strategies, and mechanisms influencing outcomes including feasibility, acceptability, appropriateness, fidelity, and sustainability

Evaluate PAD’s effectiveness in Philadelphia as the entry point of a continuum of care (e.g., linkage, short, and long-term retention) and determine its health outcomes (e.g., overdose, emergency department utilization, and xylazine wound care), using a quasi-experimental analysis of linked administrative data from PWUD eligible for PAD who are, and are not, enrolled

Evaluate the cost-effectiveness of PAD in Philadelphia compared to arrest, drug court, and probation; assess the value of PAD against its cost; and inform evidence-based decision-making; these aims will be met by using data from cohorts of PAD and non-PAD individuals to (a) parameterize a health-state transition model and (b) estimate the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of PAD versus routine arrest

Principal Investigator

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Brandon del Pozo, PhD

Brown University Health

MPIs

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Evan Anderson, JD, PhD

Thomas Jefferson College of Population Health

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Javier Cepeda, PhD, MPH

Johns Hopkins University

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Saba Rouhani, PhD

New York University

Co-Investigators

  • Ruth Shefner, PhD, MPH, MSW, Thomas Jefferson University
  • Jacqueline Rudolph, PhD, MSPH, Johns Hopkins University

Justice Agency Partners

  • Richard Worley, Baltimore Police Department
  • Kevin Bethel, Philadelphia Police Department

Health Agency Partner

  • David Malloy, Merakey