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The National Institutes of Health today selected the University of Kentucky, Boston Medical Center, Columbia University and Ohio State University to partner with communities in Kentucky, Massachusetts, New York and Ohio to study the impact of integrating evidence-based interventions to prevent and treat opioid addiction across primary care, behavioral health, justice and other community-based settings. The , part of NIH’s Helping to End Addiction Long-term Initiative, aims to reduce overdose deaths by 40 percent over three years. The National Institute on Drug Abuse expects to provide $350 million in funding for the study, a partnership with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. “By testing a suite of evidence-based interventions, not just in health care, but in schools, among first responders, and in the criminal justice system, the HEALing Communities Study will seek to reduce dramatically the number of overdose deaths in those communities, and to create a model for helping communities nationwide,” said NIH Director Francis Collins, M.D.