Can Educational Outreach Improve Experts' Decision Making? Evidence from a National Opioid Academic Detailing Program

Abstract Healthcare providers often deviate from guidelines, leading to worse outcomes. I study the impact of academic detailing (also known as educational outreach) to primary care teams on safer pain management, risk evaluation, harm reduction, and opioid use disorder treatment. Using data from over 5 million patients, I find detailing improves provider behavior: it increases naloxone prescribing, prescription drug monitoring queries, and reduces opioid prescriptions for three years. Patients have fewer emergency visits and hospitalizations for overdoses, suicides, and accidents, especially heavy opioid users. Importantly, pain scores remain stable despite reduced opioid use, highlighting detailing's role in fostering safer, effective care.