A new modelling study suggests that when patients who inject opioids continue an antibiotic treatment for infective endocarditis outside of the hospital, they experience better long-term health outcomes than patients who receive the standard four to six weeks of inpatient, intravenous antibiotic therapy. In addition to reducing infective endocarditis-related deaths and extending life expectancy, this analysis suggests that these outpatient strategies are more cost-effective than the standard approach. The study was published today in JAMA Network Open and funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health.