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OUD Care Connect

OUD Care Connect

Telehealth and incentives for opioid use disorder treatment engagement

Project status

Pilot/study underway

Collaborators

Margaret Lowenstein, MD, MPhil, MSHP 

David Asch, MD, MBA 

Anna Morgan, MD, MSc, MSHP 

Jeanmarie Perrone, MD 

Austin Kilaru, MD, MSHP 

James Mckay, MD 

David Mandell, ScD 

Kevin Lynch, PhD 

Matthew Salzman, MD 

Bethany Raiff, PhD 

Andrew Herring, MD 

Erik Anderson, MD, MS 

Nicole O’Donnell, CRS 

Jasmine Barnes, MPH 

Gilly Gehri 

Maya Nelson 

Brittany Salerno   

Funding

PCORI

External partners

Cooper University Health System 

Alameda Health System

Opportunity 

The United States continues to face an opioid use disorder (OUD) crisis. In fact, data shows that approximately 81,000 overdoses were documented in 2021, a 15 percent increase from the year before.  

Buprenorphine, also known as bupe, is a safe and effective medication that can be taken at home to treat opioid addiction. It has been shown to cut the risk of dying in the next year by half. However, nationwide only 1 in 6 emergency department (ED) patients with OUD receive addiction treatment in the weeks after they are discharged, and Black patients are half as likely to receive this treatment.

Intervention  

We are running a multi-health system study in partnership with the Center for Addiction Medicine and Policy to test strategies to increase the number of patients with OUD who engage in bupe treatment after an ED visit and decrease the racial gap in who receives treatment. 

We will test the effectiveness of a daily text messaging telehealth program that encourages patients to take their medication and connects those who need help with a trained care coordinator. We are also experimenting with financial incentives to determine if paying patients who start and continue receiving addiction treatment can lead to better outcomes. These strategies will be tested separately and in combination.    

The design of this intervention builds on the lessons learned and technology created for COVID Watch. The study will be administered on the Way to Health platform.  

Impact  

This five-year study is underway thanks to support from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). 

Way to Health Specs

Learn more about the platform
Activity monitoring
Arms and randomization
Criteria-based rules
Dashboard view
Device integration
eConsent
EHR integration
Email
Enrollment
Gamification
Incentives
IVR
Multiple languages
Patient portal messaging
Patient-reported outcomes capture
Photo messaging
Remote patient monitoring
Schedule-based rules
Survey administration
Two-way texting
Vitals monitoring