Recovery Management Checkups for Primary Care Experiment (RMC-PC)

Chestnut Health Systems

Status: Completed

Conditions: Substance Use Disorders

Treatments: Behavioral: SBIRT+RMC-PC; Behavioral: SBIRT

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT03746756

1119-1216

R01AA024440 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Details and patient eligibility

About

National data show that only 8% of people with past-year substance use disorders (SUD) received any treatment for these disorders in the past year, resulting in high costs, both in terms of their own health and functioning and costs to society. Pilot work demonstrates that the proposed intervention has the potential to significantly increase SUD treatment engagement among patients with SUD within Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), and thereby reduce substance use and other related consequences. This project is being done in close collaboration with several FQHC providers to facilitate the potential for subsequent dissemination to other FQHCs and primary care settings.

Full description

Individuals with substance use disorders (SUDs) can be readily identified within primary care settings, but current interventions are not effective at linking them to SUD treatment. Patient and system level barriers present significant challenges and new, more robust, linkage models are needed that can successfully overcome the barriers. Identifying more effective linkage models is a priority within addiction health services, since untreated individuals with SUDs have poorer health and employment outcomes over time as well as use significantly more acute care services, resulting in substantially higher medical costs, compared with those who receive SUD treatment.

Results from three clinical trials conducted by the applicant team have demonstrated the effectiveness of Recovery Management Checkups (RMC) as a linkage model for individuals needing SUD treatment. Moreover, RMC participants were significantly more likely to enter treatment, enter sooner, and stay longer, having fewer days of use and fewer SUD symptoms. Outcomes were also associated with lower health care utilization, decreased criminal activity, and substantial savings to society, thereby offsetting the costs of additional treatment. RMC was modified for primary care (RMC-PC) and pilot results conducted in Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) indicated RMC-PC significantly increased the number of patients who agreed to go to treatment (72% vs. 97%; OR=12.6, p<.05) and who showed for treatment (12% vs. 75%, OR=22.0, p<.0001). Moreover, relative to patients in these same settings who received the usual referral condition, those who received RMC-PC had significantly greater reductions (post-pre) in their past-month days of any illicit drug use or misuse of prescription medications (-11.21 vs -22.11 days, d=-0.81, p<.001).

In this trial, investigators will: a) recruit 300 adult patients with SUD through SBIRT programs in 4 FQHC sites, b) randomly assign half to a referral as usual control and half to RMC-PC, and c) conduct quarterly follow-ups for 12-months post enrollment. Hypotheses include: H1 Relative to the control patients, patients receiving RMC-PC will be more likely to: a) initiate SUD treatment sooner, b) receive any SUD treatment, and c) receive more days of SUD treatment. H2. Relative to the control patients, patients receiving RMC-PC and those who receive more SUD treatment will report fewer days of: a) any alcohol use, b) use of illicit drugs or misuse of prescription medications, c) any substance use, and d) SUD problems. H3. The days of treatment will mediate the relationship between RMC-PC and changes in the pre and post measures of the dependent variables in H2.

Enrollment: 266 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• scoring in the moderate to high range on the AUDIT or DAST

Exclusion criteria

• under 18
• a non-resident of Chicago or plan to move outside of Chicago within 12 months
• sentenced to a confined environment most of the next 12 months
• mandated to treatment because of a driving under the influence offense
• not fluent in English or Spanish
• cognitively unable to provide informed consent

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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266 participants in 2 patient groups

SBIRT as Usual

Experimental group

Description:

The follow-up team will (a) contact participants within 24-48 hours to collect additional locator information and mailing a schedule card for the next interview, (b) receipt information in a management information system (MIS), (c) assign each case to a follow-up case tracker, (d) verify locator data, (e) conduct outreach for unverified cases and discussing them at weekly meetings, (f) mail thank-you cards to participants and collaterals, (g) schedule follow-up appointments, (h) mail 3 and 6 week post-enrollment flyers, (i) implement returned-mail procedures, (j) call participants 6 weeks before appointment to confirm date and location (phone vs. research office), (k) conduct outreach for unconfirmed cases and review them at weekly meetings, (l) complete follow-up interviews and scheduling next appointments, and (m) implement a no-show protocol.

Treatment:

Behavioral: SBIRT

SBIRT + RMC-PC

Experimental group

Description:

Patients will receive SBIRT plus the RMC protocol. The Linkage Manager (LM) will: 1) provide personalized feedback to participants about the status of their condition based on responses from the Global Appraisal of Individual Needs Quick version 3 (GAIN-Q3), 2) help participants resolve ambivalence about their dependence and moving them toward a commitment to change by accessing additional care, 3) address existing barriers to treatment, 4) schedule an assessment, and 5) facilitate reentry and engagement. The LM will stay in contact 2-3 times per week for two weeks to ensure that individuals both initiate and remain engaged in treatment.

Treatment:

Behavioral: SBIRT

Behavioral: SBIRT+RMC-PC