A Pitt professor is playing a key role in tracking where Pennsylvania’s opioid settlement money goes

In 2021, state attorneys general reached settlements with opioid manufacturers and distributors, securing tens of billions of dollars to respond to the opioid addiction epidemic. A new website created by Pitt researchers and their collaborators tracks which Pennsylvania programs these settlements are funding, offering both transparency and a chance to learn which new solutions are most effective in abating the crisis.

“The opioid settlement represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to invest in strategies that can truly save lives,” said Renee Cloutier, assistant professor in Pitt’s School of Medicine and one of the project’s leaders.

Opioids still represent a significant threat and were responsible for close to 2,500 deaths due to overdoses in Pennsylvania last year, according to the Department of Health. The state’s funds provided by the settlements — $2.2 billion over the next 18 years — are earmarked for responding to that crisis, with approaches like medications, harm reduction, overdose prevention and other evidence-based services and programs.

Counties in Pennsylvania control how their share of the settlement money is spent, and they’ve chosen varying approaches to distribute the funds. For researchers, that represents a means of both alleviating the opioid crisis and determining and amplifying the most promising new approaches.

“By making data on settlement-funded programs transparent and accessible, we’re helping communities, policymakers and researchers learn what works and ensure these dollars have the greatest possible impact,” said Cloutier.

To collect data and build the website, which launched in August, Pitt researchers partnered with colleagues from Penn State University, Temple University, local partners and the Pennsylvania Opioid Misuse and Addiction Abatement Trust, the body responsible for distributing the state’s settlement funds. Users can search by location, see how each county is spending its money and read details about each local program funded by the settlement.

Due to long-term trends in public health funding, Cloutier said, many local systems have big gaps to fill. The settlement money offers an opportunity for PA communities to test new ideas and strengthen long-term prevention and recovery efforts. It’s an important step, she added, in moving forward from the opioid crisis.

“The settlements represent more than just money — they mark a legal acknowledgment that the opioid crisis wasn’t the result of people lacking willpower. It was fueled by powerful industries that misled the public and profited from addictive products,” said Cloutier. “That shift in perspective is important: It moves responsibility from individuals to the systems and corporations that created the crisis, and it opens the door for solutions rooted in public health and community repair.”

Photography by Tom Altany