BALTIMORE, MD, April 21, 2025 – Courts around the world are struggling to keep up with growing caseloads, leaving individuals and businesses waiting months – sometimes years – for resolution. But a new study in the INFORMS journal Manufacturing & Service Operations Management has uncovered a surprisingly simple way to speed up the system that doesn’t require hiring more judges.

A new study published in JAMA Internal Medicine found that hospitalized patients with alcohol use disorder who began taking the AUD medication naltrexone before they were discharged were able to reduce heavy drinking in the three-month period following their hospital stay. The findings specifically showed that both forms of naltrexone, which is offered as a pill or as an extended-release injectable, were similarly effective at reducing patients’ alcohol consumption. After three months of treatment, heavy drinking within the last 30 days decreased by approximately 38 percentage points among patients who took the oral version of naltrexone, compared to about a 46 percentage-point decrease among patients who received the injectable version of the medication.