Linking Individuals with Substance Use Disorders (SUDs) in Primary Care to SUD Treatment: the Recovery Management Checkups–Primary Care (RMC-PC) Pilot Study

Abstract

Linking individuals in primary care settings with substance use disorders (SUDs) to SUD treatment has proven to be challenging, despite the widespread use of Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT). This paper reports findings from a pilot study that examined the efficacy of the Recovery Management Checkups intervention adapted for primary care settings (RMC-PC), for assertively linking and engaging patients from Federally Qualified Health Centers into SUD treatment. Findings showed that patients in the RMC-PC (n=92) had significantly higher rates of SUD treatment entry and received more days of SUD treatment compared with those who receive the usual SBIRT referral (n=50). Receipt of RMC-PC had both direct and indirect effects, partially mediated through days of SUD treatment, on reducing days of drug use at 6 months post intake. RMC-PC is a promising intervention to address the need for more assertive methods for linking patients in primary care to SUD treatment.

The Criminal Justice System and More Lenient Drug Policy: Three Case Studies on California's Changes to How Its Criminal Justice System Addresses Drug Use

“…Recovery Management Checkups, as well as other services that provide case management, are also effective mechanisms to re-engage individuals with SUD treatment when needed (Dennis & Scott, 2012;Scott et al, 2017). Treatment take-up can also be induced through contact points other than the justice system for individuals in need, such as primary care (Scott et al, 2018). In Los Angeles, for example, the enactment of Medicaid expansion led the County to implement a new system of coordinated care in August 2017, which provides other mechanisms to link individuals to SUD treatment (Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, 2016).…”

“…A management model of care requires programming that facilitates quickly engaging individuals with treatment on an ongoing basis (Martin, O'Connell, Paternoster, & Bachman, 2011;Scott, Grella, Dennis, & Nicholson, 2018), and there is reason to believe that CS may be able to fulfill the requirements of such a model (Scott, Dennis, & Lurigio, 2017). CS agencies have frequent contact with their clients and the responsibility to help their clients reintegrate to the community (Clear et al, 2009).…”

Federally Qualified Health Centers Can Expand Rural Access to Buprenorphine for Opioid Use Disorder in Arizona

“…FQHCs are able to integrate SUD treatment with primary care services at locations focused on reaching underserved and remote populations. 43 Congruent with current colocation research, 44 we overlaid geographic locations to match FQHCs and DATA-waived providers. FQHCs that did not have a DATA-waived provider within a 0.5-mile radius were classified as potential OBOT locations.…”

Variation in brief treatment for substance use disorder: a qualitative investigation of four federally qualified health centers with SBIRT services

“…The motivation for conducting the current qualitative investigation of BT stems from an ongoing randomized clinical trial that is comparing SBIRT only with SBIRT + Recovery Management Checkups (RMC) among patients at four FQHCs [ 33 , 34 ]. RMC is an evidence-based practice used to improve substance use treatment initiation, engagement, and retention.…”