Invited commentary: The scale of the opioid crisis in the United States highlights the need to identify and implement the most effective approaches to prevent overdose fatalities. Over the last 15 years, deaths due to opioid overdoses have exceeded 500 000,1 and declines in overall US life expectancy are partly explained by this increase in overdose mortality. The Healing Communities Study (HCS), part of the National Institutes of Health Healing Addiction Long-Term initiative to address the opioid crisis, is testing whether an integrated set of evidence-based prevention and treatment interventions can reduce overdose mortality by 40% over a 3-year period (the first year to select interventions and train personnel and 2 years of implementation).....