August 2024
Case
HBS Case Collection

Pioneering Pain Management: CWC Alliance Combats the Opioid Epidemic

By: Susanna Gallani, Karen L. Sedatole and Sarah Mehta

Format:Print
| Language:English
| Pages:26

Abstract

Set in March 2024, this case is about CWC Alliance (CWC), a nonprofit working to prevent opioid addiction in the U.S. Founder Cammie Wolf Rice launched CWC in 2018 after her son, Christopher Wolf, died of a heroin overdose. Wolf’s dependence on opioids stemmed from a prescription he received at the age of 17 after several surgeries. Looking back, Rice wishes a healthcare worker had educated her and her son on the dangers of opioids before they were discharged. CWC created the role of the Life Care Specialist (LCS)—a care coach offering an extra layer of support to patients and hospital staff by providing education, mental wellness support, and personalized alternative pain management strategies to post-operative patients. In 2020, CWC piloted the role at Grady Memorial Hospital, a busy trauma center in Atlanta, Georgia. By 2024, three LCSs worked at Grady as full-time employees. CWC is ready to expand to other hospitals, and the case finds Rice weighing the merits of several scaling strategies.