Coordinating Outpatient bupreNorphiNe for Emergency Care and Continuing Treatment
University of California, Davis
Summary
The main purpose of this stepped wedge trial will be to test the impact of a bundle of implementation strategies designed to improve ED-outpatient care coordination on long-term buprenorphine retention among adult patients who start buprenorphine for opioid use disorder in a hospital emergency department (ED) and then are referred for continued outpatient buprenorphine treatment after they leave the ED. Our hypothesis is that adopting the bundle of implementation strategies will be associated with subsequent increases in: A) Cumulative number of days with active buprenorphine prescription at 3, 6, and 12 months after patients' initial ED visit (6 months = primary outcome) B) Proportion of patients with active buprenorphine prescriptions without gaps in buprenorphine coverage of more than 7 days at 3, 6, and 12 months after patients' initial ED visit C) Proportion of patients who fill at least 1 outpatient buprenorphine prescription within 30 days of their ED visit D) Clinician reported quality of ED-outpatient care coordination and care transitions
Description
Buprenorphine is a highly effective but underused medication for opioid use disorder that reduces cravings and decreases overdose risk. Starting buprenorphine for opioid use disorder in emergency departments (EDs) is recognized as a best clinical practice in the US. However, effective strategies to help patients sustain buprenorphine treatment after they leave the ED are urgently needed. To increase access to buprenorphine treatment, California established California Bridge, a state-funded program that offers same-day buprenorphine initiation plus referral to outpatient opioid use disorder tre…