BMC patient screening program expands access to medication-assisted treatment for opioid addiction

Identifying opioid use disorders in hospitalized patients and connecting them with addiction treatment services can help expand access to care, according to preliminary research from Boston Medical Center published in the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment.

About 17 percent of patients at BMC — the largest safety-net provider in New England — have a substance use disorder. To address this issue, BMC created a patient screening program in 2015 to steer patients toward addiction services, whether their hospitalization was related to drug use or not. After 26 weeks, providers had conducted 337 consults with patients identified with possible substance use disorder.

Over the course of the 26 weeks, providers initiated Methadone treatment for 70 patients. At 30-day follow-ups, 54 percent of these patients were still taking the drug, which is used to curb opioid addiction. Providers initiated buprenorphine treatment for 40 patients, and 39 percent of these patients were still on the anti-opioid addiction medication 30-days later.

"In order to help curb the [opioid] epidemic, we need to take every opportunity to engage patients with substance use disorders and get them into treatment when they are ready," said Paul Trowbridge, MD, the study's lead author and graduate of BMC's addiction medicine fellowship. "This service will not only prove beneficial to patients, by helping them get access to evidence-based treatment, but also to the healthcare system by reducing costs and readmissions."

More articles on opioids: 
Study: OTC painkillers as effective as opioids in the ED 
Kentucky AG files opioid epidemic lawsuit against Endo 
Cleveland Clinic CEO Dr. Toby Cosgrove: Healthcare providers helped facilitate opioid epidemic and have a key role in ending it

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