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Substance Use Treatment and Recovery Team (START)

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center logo

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

Status

Completed

Conditions

Opioid-use Disorder
Opioid-Related Disorders

Treatments

Behavioral: Substance Use Treatment and Recovery Team (START)

Study type

Interventional

Funder types

Other
NIH

Identifiers

NCT05086796
1U01TR002756-01A1 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)
STUDY00000515
5U01TR002756-02 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Details and patient eligibility

About

This study is a multi-site, randomized pragmatic trial being conducted at three diverse sites. The study, called the Substance Use Treatment and Recovery Team (START), will evaluate whether a collaborative care team increases the use of two interventions-medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD), and opioid use disorder (OUD) focused discharge planning-among hospitalized patients with OUD, and improves linkage to follow-up care relative to usual care. The START consists of an addiction medicine specialist and a care manager who will use evidence-based tools to decrease barriers to MOUD and engage patients with post-discharge OUD care. A total of 414 patients will be randomized from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, the University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque, and Baystate Health in Springfield, Massachusetts to receive either START or usual care, stratifying by prior MOUD exposure and site.

Full description

In the past decade, hospitalizations for OUD nearly doubled. Patients admitted to the hospital with an underlying OUD rarely receive evidence-based treatment for OUD while hospitalized. MOUD is not commonly initiated in the hospital, and patients are seldom linked to outpatient treatment after discharge. Hospitalized patients with OUD who do not initiate MOUD or receive linkage to post-discharge treatment are at high-risk of continued misuse, delays in care, future overdose and costly readmission. This study identifies the inpatient hospital stay as a key opportunity to initiate MOUD and link patients with follow-up care for OUD.

The Substance Use Treatment and Recovery Team (START) is an intervention that adapts the principles of collaborative care to the hospital setting. Prior studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of collaborative care in outpatient settings for patients with opioid and alcohol use disorders, and a series of reports have demonstrated the feasibility and potential efficacy of hospital based consultative teams for substance use disorders. START uses team based, multi-faceted interventions (ie: motivational interviewing, medication treatment, OUD-focused discharge planning), measurement-based care, and patient registries to increase delivery of evidence-based care. The goal of START is to facilitate initiation of MOUD during the inpatient stay and link patients to appropriate post-discharge care.

The START study is a multi-site, randomized trial that will evaluate the intervention improves MOUD initiation and linkage to follow-up care among hospitalized patients with OUD. A total of 414 patients will be randomized from three geographically diverse hospitals (Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, the University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque, and Baystate Health in Springfield, Massachusetts) to receive either START or usual care, stratifying by prior MOUD exposure and site. The study builds on a pilot randomized controlled trial conducted at Cedars-Sinai by testing the intervention at three geographically distinct locations, thus increasing generalizability.

If the aims of the research are achieved, the investigators will learn whether this model of care increases OUD treatment delivery in general medical hospitals, and decreases the downstream effects of untreated OUD. If effective, this translational model also can be used to increase uptake of evidence-based practices for other substance use and behavioral health disorders.

Enrollment

325 patients

Sex

All

Ages

18+ years old

Volunteers

No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

  • Admitted to an inpatient bed at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (CSMC),University of New Mexico Hospital (UNM), or Baystate Health (BH)
  • Age 18 and older
  • Have a probable OUD diagnosis, defined by scores of > 3 on the opioid section of the Alcohol, Smoking, and Substance Involvement Screening test (ASSIST)
  • Speaks English or Spanish as primary language
  • Willing to participate in follow-up calls and interview by telephone and able to provide contact information for follow-up calls
  • Able to provide informed consent

Exclusion criteria

  • Currently receiving FDA-approved medication treatment for an opioid use disorder
  • < 6 months life expectancy

Trial design

Primary purpose

Treatment

Allocation

Randomized

Interventional model

Parallel Assignment

Masking

None (Open label)

325 participants in 2 patient groups

Substance Use Treatment and Recovery Team (START)
Active Comparator group
Description:
The intervention is administered to participants in this arm. Participants in this arm will work with the Substance Use Treatment and Recovery Team (START), a collaborative care team for inpatients with opioid use disorder.
Treatment:
Behavioral: Substance Use Treatment and Recovery Team (START)
Usual Care
No Intervention group
Description:
Usual care for people with opioid use disorder.

Trial documents
3

Trial contacts and locations

3

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Central trial contact

Mia Mazer

Data sourced from clinicaltrials.gov

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