NCT03566459

Medications for Opioid Use Disorders (MOUD) Via Telemedicine

Completed Last updated 24 March 2020

What this trial tests

trial testing CBOC offering Tele-MOUD to Veterans in Opioid Use Disorder in 12 participants. Completed in 31 March 2019.

Timeline

1 April 2018

Primary endpoint
31 March 2019

31 March 2019

Quick facts

Lead sponsor	VA Office of Research and Development
Status	Completed
Study type	OBSERVATIONAL
Enrollment	12
Start date	1 April 2018
Primary completion	31 March 2019
Estimated completion	31 March 2019
Sites	2 locations across United States

Drugs / interventions tested

• CBOC offering Tele-MOUD to Veterans
• CBOC not offering Tele-MOUD to Veterans

Conditions studied

• Opioid Use Disorder — all drugs for Opioid Use Disorder →

Sponsor

VA Office of Research and Development — full company profile →

Who can join

Eligibility, any sex, with Opioid Use Disorder. Patients with the condition only — healthy volunteers not accepted.

Sponsor's own description

Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) of Veterans with Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) decreases mortality and improves treatment follow-up. However, outside of large and/or urban VA medical centers, there are shortages of providers with experience treating OUD and a license to prescribe buprenorphine. This has resulted in decreased access to MAT (buprenorphine/naloxone and injectable naltrexone) at rural CBOCs and increased overdose rates in rural areas. Some individual prescribers have used clinical video teleconferencing (CVT) to overcome geographic barriers and prescribe MAT to Veterans in CBOCs. However, while locally effective, these arrangements are not standardized and are not parts of larger VISN-wide or national VHA strategies.

This proposal describes an effective program that the investigators propose to replicate and expand. The program involves increasing prescribing rates of MAT for OUD in CBOCs using telemedicine. The investigators propose to (A) develop materials and procedures for the dissemination of telemedicine delivery of MAT to Veterans at CBOCs and (B) implement telemedicine prescribing of MAT at rural CBOCs in Northern Maine that lack on-site MAT providers. MAT will be prescribed by the VISN 1 Telemental Health Hub, which already provides medication management, psychotherapy, and some MAT to sites in Northern Maine.

In later years, the program will be expanded to other VISN 1 CBOCs, and to other TMH Regional Hubs that provide services to wide catchment areas in other VISNs. By building on an existing infrastructure connecting these TMH Regional Hubs to CBOCs and collaborating with other national initiatives (e.g. SCAN ECHO, PDSI, and academic detailing), telemedicine MAT will be rapidly disseminated to Veterans at CBOCs who are at high risk for illness, overdose, and premature death from opioids.

Publications & conference data

No peer-reviewed publications indexed yet for this trial. Completed trials usually publish results within 12-18 months.