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Background The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly transformed substance use disorder (SUD) treatment in the United States, with many web-based treatment services being used for this purpose. However, little is known about the long-term treatment effectiveness of SUD interventions delivered through digital technologies compared with in-person treatment, and even less is known about how patients, clinicians, and clinical characteristics may predict treatment outcomes. Objective This study aims to analyze baseline differences in patient demographics and clinical characteristics across traditional and telehealth settings in a sample of participants (N=3642) who received intensive outpatient program (IOP) substance use treatment from January 2020 to March 2021. Methods The virtual IOP (VIOP) study is a prospective longitudinal cohort design that follows adult (aged ≥18 years) patients who were discharged from IOP care for alcohol and substance use–related treatment at a large national SUD treatment provider between January 2020 and March 2021. Data were collected at baseline and up to 1 year after discharge from both in-person and VIOP services through phone- and web-based surveys to assess recent substance use and general functioning across several domains. Results Initial baseline descriptive data were collected on patient demographics and clinical inventories. No differences in IOP setting were detected by race (χ22=0.1; P=.96), ethnicity (χ22=0.8; P=.66), employment status (χ22=2.5; P=.29), education level (χ24=7.9; P=.10), or whether participants presented with multiple SUDs (χ28=11.4; P=.18). Significant differences emerged for biological sex (χ22=8.5; P=.05), age (χ26=26.8; P<.001), marital status (χ24=20.5; P<.001), length of stay (F2,3639=148.67; P<.001), and discharge against staff advice (χ22=10.6; P<.01). More differences emerged by developmental stage, with emerging adults more likely to be women (χ23=40.5; P<.001), non-White (χ23=15.8; P<.001), have multiple SUDs (χ23=453.6; P<.001), have longer lengths of stay (F3,3638=13.51; P<.001), and more likely to be discharged against staff advice (χ23=13.3; P<.01). Conclusions The findings aim to deepen our understanding of SUD treatment efficacy across traditional and telehealth settings and its associated correlates and predictors of patient-centered outcomes. The results of this study will inform the effective development of data-driven benchmarks and protocols for routine outcome data practices in treatment settings.

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BACKGROUND The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly transformed substance use disorder treatment in the United States. Use of telehealth services rapidly increased as a means to mitigate viral transmission of the disease. Emergency federal and state policies removed geographic and site-of-service restrictions and increased the number of telehealth services covered by insurers. Although telehealth has the ability to increase access to care, little is known about how the long-term treatment effectiveness of substance use disorder interventions delivered through digital technologies compares to in-person treatment. Even less is known about how patient, clinician, and clinical characteristics may predict treatment outcomes. OBJECTIVE To analyze treatment-related outcomes and explore patient predictors of treatment efficacy across traditional and telehealth settings in a sample of participants (n=3,642) who received intensive outpatient (IOP) substance use treatment from January 2020 to March 2021. METHODS The VIOP study is a prospective longitudinal cohort design that follows adult (18+ years) patients who discharged from intensive outpatient programmatic care for alcohol and substance use-related treatment at Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation (HBFF) between January 2020 and March 2021. Data were collected at six time periods: baseline (at admission), 1-, 3-, 6-, 9-, and 12-months post-discharge from both in-person and virtual IOP services through phone- and web-based administered surveys to assess recent substance use and general functioning across several domains. RESULTS Initial baseline descriptives were conducted on patient outcome measurements. Follow-up data collection is ongoing and expected to be completed in March of 2022. CONCLUSIONS The findings aim to contribute to deepening our fields’ understanding of substance use disorder treatment efficacy across traditional and telehealth settings and its associated correlates and predictors of patient-centered outcomes. Results from this study will inform the effective development of data-driven benchmarks and protocols for routine outcomes data practices in these treatment settings. CLINICALTRIAL n/a