Mark Partridge

Since the production of our 2017 policy brief, Connecting the Dots of Ohio’s Broadband Policy, much has changed in the state and nation’s broadband landscape. The last few years saw a rapid transformation of broadband use throughout America with almost every aspect of life now wholly reliant on digital technology. Streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu have increased their prevalence in our everyday lives, while other traditional entertainment services like cable and gaming transition to digital to capture a piece of the lucrative market. Meanwhile, telehealth and telework options have exploded, with the former now being a viable option for rural communities void of healthcare providers and the latter permeating almost every industry. These rapid developments were only exacerbated by the onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic, as the public health crisis sent shockwaves through our daily lives and accelerated our reliance on quality broadband service. The impact was acutely visible throughout education, as school districts and universities had to quickly pivot to remote learning. As the immediate concerns of the pandemic subside, remote schooling, telework and telehealth remain viable paths for decades to come. This accelerated digital revolution requires massive amounts of public funding to provide all Americans access to quality broadband services. Yet current funding still lags what is necessary to reach these goals. However, recent developments brought by the American Rescue Plan of 2021 and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 provide much needed money towards bridging the broadband gap and has given states latitude in how they utilize the funds, with Ohio focusing on grants for public-private partnerships. Facilitation of these funds has eased greatly because of the establishment.

A policy brief just released by the C. William Swank Program in Rural-Urban Policy titled “Immigration, Jobs, Crime, and Workforce Availability: How Does Immigration Affect Ohio and the USA?” looks at existing evidence of the effect of immigration on socioeconomic outcomes for those born in the U.S. The goal of the brief authored by Dr. Mark Partridge, professor and chair of the C. William Swank Program in Rural-Urban Policy, and PhD candidate Sydney Schreiner, is to examine the immigration landscape in the U.S. and specifically, the state of Ohio, to better understand the characteristics of the immigrant population. The researchers assert that understanding the characteristics of the immigrant population is essential for crafting good policy.

Nationally, Ohio ranks 15th in per pupil spending. Even though Ohio does a better job than almost all other states in directing school funding to poor and minority students, a new study by researchers with The Ohio State University’s C. William Swank Program in Rural-Urban Policy shows there is still much to be done to achieve funding adequacy and equity across  school districts in Ohio. 

Taking Measure of Ohio's Opioid Crisis. Opioid addiction, abuse, and overdose deaths have become the most pressing public health issue facing Ohio. Ohio leads the country in drug overdose deaths per capita, a rate that continues to rise, overwhelming families, communities, and local governments across the state. In this policy brief, we aim to contribute to the understanding of this unfolding crisis and highlight insights that can inform policymaking.

One important motivation for us to consider this topic is its significant costs. We estimate that there were likely 92,000 to 170,000 Ohioans abusing or dependent upon opioids in 2015, resulting in annual costs associated with treatment, criminal justice, and lost productivity of $2.8 billion to $5.0 billion. Additionally, we estimate that the lifetime lost productivity of those who died from an opioid overdose in 2015 to be $3.8 billion, for an annual total cost of opioid addition, abuse, and overdose deaths ranging from $6.6 billion to $8.8 billion. To put this into perspective, Ohio spent $8.2 billion of General Revenue Funds and Lottery Profits money on K-12 public education in 2015, thus, the opioid crisis was likely as costly as the state’s spending on K-12 education.

The emergence of the opioid crisis has been unevenly distributed across the state. We consider the relationship between drug overdose deaths in 2015 and several county level economic, demographic, and health factors. We find that areas of the state experiencing lagging economic growth and low economic mobility had higher drug overdose death rates. We also find that overdose deaths were strongly linked to educational attainment. In 2015, the drug overdose rate for those in Ohio with just a high school degree was 14 times higher than those with a college degree. Finally, we note the link between prescription opioids and overdose rates, finding that counties that had higher levels of prescription opioids per capita in 2010 also had higher overdose death rates in 2015.

Research has shown that the most clinically and cost effective method for reducing opioid addiction, abuse, and overdose death is medication-assisted treatment. We consider the prominent treatment options, and discuss their availability across the state. We estimate that in the best-case scenario, Ohio likely only has the capacity to treat 20-percent to 40-percent of population abusing or dependent upon opioids. We find distinct geographic disparities in access to treatment, especially between urban and rural areas of the state. Many people in rural areas of Ohio have extremely limited access to medication-assisted treatment. This is a particularly critical issue in the rural areas of Southwest Ohio where opioid abuse rates are high but local access to treatment is limited.

We conclude by offering two policy recommendations based on our analysis. In the near term, the state should prioritize expanding access to treatment in underserved areas. This would require working with physicians and hospitals in underserved areas to encourage providers to obtain the waiver required to prescribe opioid treatments to their patients. We note that Vermont offers an excellent model for expanding access to opioid treatment. In the long term, the state should focus on improving the labor market outcomes of residents in areas severely impacted by the crisis. Specifically, we recommend that the state focus on improving educational investments in as a way of deterring drug abuse and overdose, particularly noting the substantial evidence linking early childhood interventions on improved employment outcomes later in life.

Recent Media Coverage on Taking Measure of Ohio's Opioid Crisis:

https://www.10tv.com/article/ohio-state-study-provides-shocking-look-opi...
http://www.daytondailynews.com/business/opioids-cost-ohio-billion/YApQo3...
http://radio.wosu.org/post/treatment-and-economics-key-opioid-fight-says...