Ingrid A. Binswanger, MD, MPH, MS

Senior Clinician Investigator

Ingrid A. Binswanger, MD, MPH, MS, is a Senior Clinician Investigator at the Institute for Health Research. Her research focuses on how to reduce the medical complications of substance use, reduce overdose fatalities, improve addiction health services, and improve patient outcomes during complex transitions of care. She has conducted randomized trials on naloxone co-dispensing and other approaches to enhance naloxone uptake. Her research team has also conducted extensive epidemiologic research on outcomes associated with distinct opioid dosing patterns and trajectories. Dr. Binswanger also conducts research to reduce the morbidity and mortality of people who have criminal legal involvement, particularly during the transition from prison to the community.

Dr. Binswanger completed her medical training at the University of California, San Francisco, received a Master of Science in Health and Medical Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley and a Master of Public Health degree in health services from the University of Washington, Seattle.

Dr. Binswanger is a practicing physician in Chemical Dependency Treatment Services with the Colorado Permanente Medical Group at Kaiser Permanente Colorado. She is also a Professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine where she is Director of Substance Use and Harm Reduction Research Development and an Affiliate Member of the Division of Addiction Science. She is an Adjunct Professor of Health Systems Science at the Bernard J. Tyson Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine. Dr. Binswanger is a Senior Editor of the journal Addiction and Associate Editor of SAj.

Selected Research:

  • Clinical Trials Network (CTN)-0131: The EMBOSS Study

    • This project is an office-based Methadone versus Buprenorphine randomized pragmatic hybrid effectiveness/implementation trial to address retention in medication for opioid use disorder treatment.

    • Funder: National Drug Abuse Clinical Trials Network, National Institute on Drug Abuse, NIH
    • Award End Date: 02/28/2028

  • Healthcare Organizational Structural Conditions and the Health of People Recently Released from Prison

    • The goal of this proposal is to examine structural conditions that can impact access to care for people recently released from prison, with a focus on cardiovascular disease.  Dr. Binswanger directs the longitudinal cohort core.  

    • Funder: National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
    • Award End Date: 06/30/2027

  • Integrating Addiction Research in Health Systems: The Health Systems Node of the National Drug Abuse Clinical Research Network

    • This project brings together 16 Health Care Systems Research Network member health systems to conduct research focused on all aspects of addiction.

    • Funder: National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Institute on Drug Abuse
    • Award End Date: 02/28/2025

  • Health Insurance Instability and Mortality Among Patients Receiving Buprenorphine Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder: Linkage of the Prescription Opioid Registry With the National Death Index

    • The purpose of this study is to examine the association of insurance instability (i.e., duration and frequency of disenrollment and transitions in plan types) and mortality risk among patients receiving buprenorphine treatment for opioid use disorder.

    • Funder: National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Clinical Trials Network 0141
    • Award End Date: 03/01/2024

  • CTN-0131: Office-Based Methadone versus Buprenorphine to Address Retention in Medication for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD)– A Pragmatic Hybrid Effectiveness/Implementation Trial

    • The major goal of this project is to conduct a pragmatic randomized controlled trial comparing office-based methadone to office-based buprenorphine.

    • Funder: National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Clinical Trials Network 0131
    • First Phase Study End Date: 02/29/2024

  • Assessing the Safety and Effectiveness of Opioid Tapering in Large Health Systems

    • The major goal of this project is to conduct a longitudinal cohort study to determine the effectiveness and safety of opioid tapering in three large health systems in two states.

    • Funder: National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
    • Award End Date: 12/31/2023

  • IMPROVE Medication Safety Clinic

    • The major goal of this project is to evaluate the implementation of the Medication Safety Clinic (MSC) at Kaiser Permanente Colorado. The MHC is designed to further support the organization in the complex care of patients on chronic opioid therapy.

    • Funder: Kaiser Permanente Colorado IMPROVE program
    • Study End Date: 12/31/2022