News from the Health Systems Node

Kelly Young-Wolff, PhD, MPH, Health System Node faculty, and Research Scientist at the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research, co-authored a new report examining the problem of increasing potency of cannabis and cannabis products as a member of an independent scientific committee convened by the California Department of Public Health. The report, Report and Recommendations of the High Potency Cannabis Think Tank to the State of California, shares health and equity-based policy recommendations to increase public awareness, promote safer use and reduce exposure to the highest risk groups.

Download the full report | Download highlights (including Top Ten Recommended Policies by Likely Greatest Impact on Adverse Outcomes)

Gwen Lapham, PhD, MPH, MSW, Health System Node faculty, and Assistant Investigator at Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute, is first author on a new publication in Journal of General Internal Medicine evaluating the use of a one question screening tool in primary care settings (CTN-0077). Among patients who reported past-year cannabis use as part of routine screening, the prevalence of cannabis use disorder (CUD) and other cannabis exposure measures increased with greater frequency of cannabis use, underscoring the utility of brief cannabis screens for identifying patients at risk for CUD.

Lapham GT, Bobb JF, Luce C, Oliver MM, Hamilton LK, Hyun N, Hallgren KA, Matson TE. Prevalence of Cannabis Use Disorder Among Primary Care Patients with Varying Frequency of Past-Year Cannabis Use. J Gen Intern Med 2024 (in press).

Emily Williams, PhD, MPH, HSN Node faculty, Professor, University of Washington, and Principal Investigator at Veterans Administration Puget Sound and Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute published results from CTN-0113, a study aimed at validating a DSM-5 Substance Use Disorder (SUD) Symptom Checklist to support chronic care management of SUDs in primary care. The Checklist measured SUD symptoms in patients with clinically recognized opioid use disorder (OUD) and long-term opioid therapy (LTOT) and had similar measurement properties across demographic subgroups. The Checklist may support symptom assessment in patients with OUD and diagnosis in patients with LTOT.

Williams EC, Matson TE, Hallgren KA, Oliver M, Wang X, Bradley KA. Assessing Substance Use Disorder Symptoms with a Checklist among Primary Care Patients with Opioid Use Disorder and/or Long-Term Opioid Treatment: An Observational Study. J Gen Intern Med 2024 Sep;39(12):2169-2178.