Faculty Bibliography

BACKGROUND/UNASSIGNED:Despite their efficacy, medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) remain underutilized in patients with infections from intravenous opioid use (I-IOU). This study evaluates the impact of an Expanded MOUD Access Initiative (EMAI) on MOUD uptake and other clinical outcomes in patients hospitalized for I-IOU at an institution without addiction medicine consultation. METHODS/UNASSIGNED:We performed a retrospective pre-post study of hospital admissions for I-IOU before (January 2019-June 2021) and after (January 2022-December 2023) EMAI introduction. Data was collected via chart review. The EMAI eliminated restrictions on methadone use and established a new order set for buprenorphine inductions. The primary outcome was MOUD receipt; secondary outcomes included patient directed discharge (PDD) and 30-day re-hospitalization. RESULTS/UNASSIGNED:There were 129 hospitalizations prior to the intervention (control) and 98 after (EMAI). MOUD receipt was significantly higher in the EMAI group (75.5% vs 31.0%; OR, 6.86 [95% CI, 3.84-12.61]). In patients not receiving MOUD prior to admission (n = 176), new inductions occurred more frequently in the EMAI group (68.0% vs 11.9%; OR, 15.76 [95% CI, 7.50-35.78]). PDD was lower in the EMAI group (23.5% vs 48.8%; OR, 0.32 [95% CI, 0.10-0.57]), as was 30-day re-hospitalization (12.2% vs 22.5%; OR, 0.48 [95% CI, 0.22-0.98]). In a multivariable logistic regression model, the EMAI was the only variable to show a statistically significant association with MOUD receipt (aOR, 6.89 [95% CI, 3.75-13.11]). CONCLUSIONS/UNASSIGNED:The EMAI was associated with increased MOUD uptake, reduced PDD, and fewer 30-day re-hospitalizations despite the lack of addiction medicine consultation.

BACKGROUND:The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Clinical Trials Network (CTN) has supported clinical trials of substance use disorder (SUD) interventions for 25 years. This review describes the use of implementation outcomes across CTN trials, characterizes outcomes included, and identifies gaps and potential opportunities to strengthen implementation research within the CTN and the field of SUD treatment. METHODS:This systematic review included active or completed studies listed on the CTN Dissemination Library webpage as of August 18, 2021, and approved by the CTN for development by January 1, 2022. Study summaries and protocols were reviewed if they: 1) measured at least one implementation outcome and 2) examined a practice change, intervention, or process. Extracted data elements included trial design characteristics, implementation frameworks, and outcome assessment domains informed by the RE-AIM and Proctor Implementation Outcomes Frameworks. RESULTS:114 protocols were considered, 42 full-text protocols were screened, and 25 were included for data extraction. Start dates of trials spanned a 20-year period (2004-2024) with latter studies including more implementation outcomes. Fidelity (n = 29) and reach/penetration (n = 26) were the most included implementation outcomes. Equity was not identified in any protocols. Methods of defining, capturing, and evaluating outcomes data varied across trials and outcomes. CONCLUSION/CONCLUSIONS:The inclusion of implementation outcomes increased over time, perhaps reflecting a growing emphasis on implementation research. Incorporating measures of equity could advance knowledge about differential receipt or effectiveness of SUD interventions. Future research should seek to improve the consistency and comprehensiveness in descriptions of implementation science elements.

BACKGROUND:A majority of the 8.9 million Americans with opioid misuse have mild or no symptoms of opioid use disorder (OUD), but they may be at elevated risk of developing more severe OUD, overdose, or other health consequences of opioid use. The "Subthreshold Opioid Use Disorder Prevention"(STOP) Trial is evaluating a collaborative care intervention for risky opioid use in primary care. Here, we describe baseline characteristics of participants to understand their needs and assess the generalizability of the sample. METHODS:Recruitment at five primary care sites spanned March 2021-May 2023. Adult patients who screened positive for subthreshold OUD (current illicit or non-medical opioid use without meeting DSM-5 criteria for moderate-severe OUD) were eligible. Baseline assessments measured self-reported demographic characteristics, other substance use, pain, and physical and mental health symptoms. Descriptive statistics summarize characteristics of the enrolled sample across sites. RESULTS:Among the 202 participants, the majority identified as female (63.4%), white (70.8%), and non-Hispanic (96.5%), with mean age 55.7 (SD: 12.7) years. Nearly half (49.0%) had problem or high-risk use of prescription opioids, and most received a prescription for opioid medication in the past six months (74.8%). Many participants reported current problem use or high-risk use of alcohol (47.0%) or cannabis (31.2%). Approximately one-third endorsed mental health symptoms, including moderate-severe anxiety (35.6%), depression (31.2%), or sleep disturbance (29.7%), and 20.3% reported a past suicide attempt. In the prior six months, 14.7% had experienced a nonfatal overdose. Moderate-severe pain was reported by 63.4%, and 60.4% rated their general health as fair or poor. CONCLUSIONS:Patients with subthreshold OUD had high rates of polysubstance use and comorbidities that may present challenges to reducing risky opioid use. The STOP trial presents an opportunity to detect and address subthreshold OUD in a cohort with considerable medical and social needs, within primary care settings. CLINICAL TRIALS REGISTRATION/BACKGROUND:ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04218201.

BACKGROUND:Individuals with opioid use disorder have high rates of hospital admissions, which represent a critical opportunity to engage patients and initiate medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD). However, few patients receive MOUD and, even if MOUD is initiated in the hospital, patients may encounter barriers to continuing MOUD in the community. OBJECTIVE:Describe hospital providers' experiences and perspectives to inform initiatives and policies that support hospital-based MOUD initiation and continuation in community treatment programs. DESIGN/METHODS:As part of a broader implementation study focused on inpatient MOUD (NCT#04921787), we conducted semi-structured interviews with hospital providers. PARTICIPANTS/METHODS:Fifty-seven hospital providers from 12 community hospitals. APPROACH/METHODS:Thematic analysis examined an emergent topic on challenges transitioning patients to outpatient MOUD treatment and related impacts on MOUD initiation by inpatient providers. KEY RESULTS/RESULTS:Participants described structural barriers to transitioning hospitalized patients to continuing outpatient MOUD including (a) limited outpatient buprenorphine prescriber availability, (b) the siloed nature of addiction treatment, and (c) long wait times. As a result of observing these structural barriers, participants experienced a sense of futility that deterred them from initiating MOUD. Participants proposed strategies that could better support these patient transitions, including developing partnerships between hospitals and outpatient addiction treatment and supporting in-reach services from community providers. CONCLUSIONS:We identified concerns about inadequate and inaccessible community-based care and transition pathways that discouraged hospital providers from prescribing MOUD. As hospital-based opioid treatment models continue to expand, programmatic and policy strategies to support inpatient transitions to outpatient addiction treatment are needed. NCT TRIAL NUMBER/UNASSIGNED:04921787.

While approximately one in five Americans with substance use disorder (SUD) receives treatment in addiction treatment programs, a majority have seen a primary care medical provider in the past year. Recognizing the critical role of primary care in addressing prevention and treatment of unhealthy substance use, for over a decade the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network (CTN) has supported research to build the tools and evidence needed to support the integration of SUD care, while remaining realistic about the barriers to doing so. Authored by primary care and addiction medicine physician researchers, this commentary provides an overview of CTN primary care-focused research, from developing and implementing substance use screening tools to advancing evidence-based SUD treatment delivery in primary care settings. We identify three priority areas for research and practice innovations: 1) identifying effective treatment interventions to address polysubstance use; 2) improved screening and treatment for cannabis use; and 3) building the evidence base for substance use interventions among non-treatment seeking patients who have unhealthy drug use identified through screening. Addressing these areas can help primary care fulfill its potential as a key component of the substance use services continuum of care.

IMPORTANCE/UNASSIGNED:With acute care utilization and mortality rates increasing among people with opioid use disorder, hospital addiction consult services can provide an important touchpoint for care, potentially leading to improved outcomes. OBJECTIVE/UNASSIGNED:To study the effectiveness of interprofessional hospital addiction consultation services on postdischarge acute care utilization and mortality. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS/UNASSIGNED:In this pragmatic stepped-wedge cluster randomized implementation and effectiveness (hybrid type 1) clinical trial, 6 New York City public hospitals were randomized to an intervention start date, and outcomes were compared during treatment as usual (TAU) and intervention conditions. Participants included adults with hospitalizations identified in Medicaid claims data between October 2017 and January 2021. Eligible patients had an admission or discharge diagnosis of opioid use disorder or opioid poisoning or adverse effects, were hospitalized at least 1 night in a medical or surgical inpatient unit, and were not receiving medication for opioid use disorder before hospitalization. INTERVENTION/UNASSIGNED:Hospitals implemented the Consult for Addiction Treatment and Care in Hospitals (CATCH) program, an interprofessional inpatient addiction consult service providing specialty care for substance use disorders, with teams consisting of a medical clinician, social worker or addiction counselor, and peer counselor. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES/UNASSIGNED:Acute care utilization (hospitalizations and emergency department [ED] visits) and mortality rates (all-cause deaths, overdose deaths, and opioid-involved overdose deaths) 1 year after hospital discharge. Data for the eligible patients were analyzed July 2023 to September 2024. RESULTS/UNASSIGNED:In total, 1355 eligible admissions were identified (968 [71.4%] men; mean [SD] age, 46.6 [12.4] years). A majority of patients (835 [61.5%]) had at least 1 subsequent hospitalization or ED visit. There were 113 deaths, including 34 overdose deaths (30.1%), of which 28 (82.4%) involved opioids. ED admissions were lower in the intervention period compared with TAU (incidence rate ratio, 0.79 [95% CI, 0.72-0.88]; P < .001). There were no statistically significant differences between CATCH and TAU periods in numbers of hospitalizations (incidence rate ratio, 0.99 [95% CI, 0.87-1.13]) or mortality (eg, hazard ratio for all-cause death, 1.14 [95% CI, 0.98-1.92]). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE/UNASSIGNED:In this prespecified secondary analysis of a cluster randomized clinical trial, postdischarge ED visits decreased with the CATCH program, highlighting the potential of hospital-based addiction consult services to address needs of patients with opioid use. Nonetheless, high rates of acute care utilization and mortality persisted, underscoring the need for comprehensive care strategies that extend beyond the hospital walls, and addressing the complex health and social needs of individuals with opioid use. TRIAL REGISTRATION/UNASSIGNED:ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03611335.

OBJECTIVES/OBJECTIVE:We explored medications for opioid use disorder treatment (MOUD) utilization in six New York City public hospitals that implemented the "Consultation for Addiction Care and Treatment in Hospitals (CATCH)" program. METHODS:CATCH rolled out between October 2018 and February 2020. Data from the electronic health record were analyzed for the first year post-implementation. Eligible cases included adults with an opioid-related diagnosis admitted to inpatient departments served by CATCH, with a stay of ≥1 night. Patients were classified as receiving an MOUD order if there was at least 1 order of buprenorphine, methadone, or naltrexone. Logistic regression modeled the impact of CATCH consults on MOUD orders, controlling for demographic and clinical characteristics with hospital as a random effect. RESULT/RESULTS:Among 2117 eligible patients, 71.4% were male, with a mean age of 51.2 years, and 27.2% identified as Black, 21.2% as White, and 34.5% as Hispanic. MOUD was ordered in 60.9% of admissions, and 41.5% had a completed CATCH consult. Patients identified as Black had lower odds of receiving a MOUD order than those identified as White (OR: 0.52, 95% CI: 0.38-0.71; P < 0.001). Patients with a CATCH consult had higher odds of receiving a MOUD order (OR: 3.22, 95% CI: 2.54-4.07; P < 0.001). CONCLUSION/CONCLUSIONS:Majority of patients in our sample received a MOUD order, with higher odds among those with a CATCH consult. Further research is needed on the drivers of racial disparities in MOUD, and other contextual, organizational, and population-specific barriers and facilitators contributing to receipt of hospital-based addiction consult services and MOUD.

BACKGROUND:The Tobacco, Alcohol, Prescription Medication, and Other Substance (TAPS) tool is a screening and brief assessment instrument to identify unhealthy tobacco, alcohol, drug use, and prescription medication use in primary care patients. This secondary analysis compares the TAPS tool to the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test-Consumption (AUDIT-C) for alcohol screening. METHODS:Adult primary care patients (1124 female, 874 male) completed the TAPS tool followed by AUDIT-C. Performance of each instrument was evaluated against a reference standard measure, the modified World Mental Health Composite International Diagnostic Interview, to identify problem use and alcohol use disorder (AUD). Area under the curve (AUC) appraised discrimination, and sensitivity and specificity were calculated for Youden optimal score thresholds. RESULTS:For identifying problem use: On the AUDIT-C, AUC was 0.90 (95% Confidence Interval: 0.86-0.92) for females and 0.91 (0.89-0.93) for males. Sensitivity and specificity for females were 0.89 (0.83-0.93) and 0.78 (0.75-0.80), respectively, and for males were 0.84 (0.79-0.88) and 0.82 (0.79-0.85). On the TAPS tool, AUC was 0.82 (0.79-0.86) for females and 0.81 (0.78-0.84) for males. Sensitivity and specificity for females were 0.78 (0.72-0.84) and 0.78 (0.75-0.81), respectively, and for males were 0.76 (0.71-0.81) and 0.76 (0.72-0.79). For AUD: On the AUDIT-C, AUC was 0.90 (0.88-0.93) for both females and males. Sensitivity and specificity for females were 0.83 (0.74-0.90) and 0.83 (0.80-0.85), respectively, while for males, they were 0.81 (0.74-0.87) and 0.84 (0.81-0.87). On the TAPS tool, AUC was 0.84 (0.80-0.89) for females and 0.82 (0.78-0.86) for males. Sensitivity and specificity for females were 0.73 (0.63-0.81) and 0.85 (0.83-0.88), respectively, while for males, they were 0.75 (0.68-0.81) and 0.84 (0.81-0.86). CONCLUSION/CONCLUSIONS:The AUDIT-C performed somewhat better than the TAPS tool for alcohol screening. However, the TAPS tool had an acceptable level of performance for alcohol screening and may be advantageous in practice settings seeking to identify alcohol and other substance use with a single instrument.

BACKGROUND:Despite proliferation of acute-care interventions to initiate medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD), significant challenges remain to supporting care continuity following discharge. Research is needed to inform effective hospital strategies to support patient transitions to ongoing MOUD in the community. OBJECTIVE:To inform a taxonomy of care transition strategies to support MOUD continuity from hospital to community-based settings and assess their perceived impact and feasibility among experts in the field. DESIGN/METHODS:A modified Delphi consensus process through three rounds of electronic surveys. PARTICIPANTS/METHODS:Experts in hospital-based opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment, care transitions, and hospital-based addiction treatment. MAIN MEASURES/METHODS:Delphi participants rated the impact and feasibility of 14 OUD care transition strategies derived from a review of the scientific literature on a scale from 1 to 9 over three survey rounds. Panelists were invited to suggest additional care transition strategies. Agreement level was calculated based on proportion of ratings within three points of the median. KEY RESULTS/RESULTS:Forty-five of 71 invited panelists participated in the survey. Agreement on impact was strong for 12 items and moderate for 10. Agreement on feasibility was strong for 11 items, moderate for 7, and poor for 4. Strategies with highest ratings on impact and feasibility included initiation of MOUD in-hospital and provision of buprenorphine prescriptions or medications before discharge. All original 14 strategies and 8 additional strategies proposed by panelists were considered medium- or high-impact and were incorporated into a final taxonomy of 22 OUD care transition strategies. CONCLUSIONS:Our study established expert consensus on impactful and feasible hospital strategies to support OUD care transitions from the hospital to community-based MOUD treatment, an area with little empirical research thus far. It is the hope that this taxonomy serves as a stepping-stone for future evaluations and clinical practice implementation toward improved MOUD continuity and health outcomes.

OBJECTIVE:This analysis evaluated the validation results of the Tobacco, Alcohol, Prescription Medication, and Other Substance Use (TAPS) tool for older adults. METHODS:We performed a subgroup analysis of older adults aged ≥65 (n = 184) from the TAPS tool validation study conducted in 5 primary care clinics. We compared the interviewer and self-administered versions of the TAPS tool at a cutoff of ≥1 for identifying problem use with a reference standard measure, the modified World Mental Health Composite International Diagnostic Interview. RESULTS:The mean age was 70.6 ± 5.9 years, 52.7% were female, and 49.5% were non-Hispanic Black. For identifying problem use, the self-administered TAPS tool had sensitivity of 0.91 (95% CI: 0.75-0.98) and specificity of 0.91 (95% CI: 0.85-0.95) for tobacco; sensitivity of 0.68 (95% CI: 0.45-0.86) and specificity of 0.88 (95% CI: 0.82-0.93) for alcohol; and sensitivity 0.86 (95% CI: 0.42-1.00) and specificity 0.94 (95% CI: 0.90-0.97) for cannabis. The interviewer-administered TAPS tool had similar results. We were unable to evaluate its performance for identifying problem use of individual classes of drugs other than cannabis in this population due to small sample sizes. CONCLUSIONS:While the TAPS had excellent sensitivity and specificity for identifying tobacco use among older adults, the results for other substances lack precision, and we were unable to evaluate its performance for prescription medications and individual illicit drugs in this sample. This analysis underlines the critical need to adapt and validate screening tools for unhealthy substance use, specifically for older populations who have unique risks.