Driving Progress: Helping Americans With Opioid Use Disorder and Pain Find Solutions Faster

The Challenge

While overdose deaths in the United States have been declining in recent years, millions of Americans are living with opioid use disorder (OUD), chronic pain, or both. Many of those affected also have other chronic medical and mental health conditions. These overlapping, complex public health crises require science-based, innovative research solutions and collaboration among scientists, community members, the private sector, and multiple levels of government. Using a whole-person, patient-centric approach, the Helping to End Addiction Long-term® Initiative—a bold, cross-agency effort spearheaded by the National Institutes of Health—has paved the way to improve the lives of individuals affected by overdose, substance use, and pain.

Our Solution

IQ Solutions provided comprehensive communications support to elevate awareness of NIH HEAL Initiative-funded research, emphasizing digital marketing, science writing, web and materials development, and patient engagement. We also led outreach and logistics for three congressional briefings to inform federal policymakers and key stakeholders about innovative research projects underway in all 50 states. To extend impact, we produced post-briefing summaries with actionable recommendations for policymakers and key stakeholders.

The Impact

IQ Solutions boosted HEAL website engagement through strategic email marketing and led the #NIHPainProgress campaign with NIH partners to spotlight pain research. We executed strategic media outreach, reaching 3 million with findings on care for opioid-exposed infants, and produced 60+ Research Spotlights articles and 50+ videos. We advanced best practices in patient engagement in research through qualitative research and development of new tools. Our 2024 Capitol Hill events reached 700+ staffers from 40 congressional offices, positioning HEAL as a trusted voice in the opioid crisis response.

Additionally, the HEAL Is Hope video that we produced received a Hermes Award and was featured at the American Public Health Association's annual Film Festival.