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…
Eligibility
- Age range
- 14+ years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- No
Inclusion Criteria: * patients who start buprenorphine for opioid use disorder at a participating ED
Interventions
- Othercare coordination implementation strategies
The intervention will be a bundle of implementation strategies developed during a prior study and informed by the multi-team systems framework. Core implementation strategies are expected to include a standardized ED substance use navigator note (with education and billing support), a mechanism for sharing PHI information across ED-clinic pairs that use different electronic health record systems, an improved ability for patients to directly contact EDs and clinics, ensuring ED and outpatient teams mutually understand each other roles, implementing procedures to increase capacity for same-day outpatient buprenorphine refills, and interactive problem solving with an external facilitation team. Strategies will be adapted to local contexts at each site.
Locations (4)
- El Centro Regional Medical Center Emergency DepartmentEl Centro, California
- University of California Irvine Emergency DepartmentIrvine, California
- Marshall Medical Center Emergency DepartmentPlacerville, California
- University of California Davis Emergency DepartmentSacramento, California