Linking women leaving jail to medications for opioid use disorder: Costs to implement pre-release telehealth…

StudyThe International journal on drug policy· Aug 2026

Linking women leaving jail to medications for opioid use disorder: Costs to implement pre-release telehealth and peer navigation services.

Don Lochana Ekanayake, Martha D Tillson, Drew D Speer … Kathryn E McCollister

Substance & AddictionStudyClinical practice

Telehealth-only pre-release outreach cost $235 per participant to link women to opioid treatment.

Linking women leaving jail to medications for opioid use disorder: Costs to implement pre-release telehealth and peer navigation services.

Don Lochana Ekanayake … Kathryn E McCollister

The International journal on drug policy · Aug 2026

Purpose

Telehealth and peer navigation are feasible strategies for connecting women in the criminal-legal system with medications for opioid use disorder (medications for opioid use disorder), yet implementation costs are not well understood.

Methods

Women participating in the clinical trial were randomly assigned to TH-Only (n=299) or TH+peer navigation (n=301).

n = 299

$235

Results

$235

telehealth-only outreach was the cheaper way to link women to opioid treatment

n = 299

More results

Start-up costs were $36,320, comprising planning, meetings, travel, and supplies.

The total cost of TH-Only was $60,767, representing 259 telehealth sessions with an average duration of 47 minutes.

More results

Total cost of TH+peer navigation was $472,148 based on 270 telehealth sessions (48 minutes), 268 peer navigation (peer navigation) sessions (30 minutes), and 12 weeks of peer navigation support post-release per participant.

“

Conclusion · 1 of 2

Telehealth may be a relatively low-cost approach for jails lacking on-site medications for opioid use disorder services.

Conclusion · 2 of 2

Although more costly, combining telehealth with peer navigation may add value by supporting service continuity and facilitating linkage to treatment during the jail to community transition.

Linking women leaving jail to medications for opioid use disorder: Costs to implement pre-release telehealth and peer navigation services.

Linking women leaving jail to medications for opioid use disorder: Costs to implement pre-release telehealth and peer navigation services.

Related papers