Colorado

"Implementing Technology and Medication-Assisted Team Training and Treatment in Rural Colorado (IT MATTTRs Colorado)," University of Colorado, Denver.

Key Lessons Learned in Medication-Assisted Treatment Implementation

  • Primary care practice teams attend team-based training and facilitation on treatment with buprenorphine for opioid use disorder (OUD) and improve their knowledge, across all roles.
  • Both practices with and without a waivered clinician implement components needed to provide treatment with buprenorphine for OUD.  and how to appropriately refer patients to local treatment in their community.
  • IT MATTTRs practice- and community-based programs for rural communities and primary care practice teams, improves practice knowledge and implementation of treatment with buprenorphine for OUD and is associated with an increase in the number of patients receiving a prescription for buprenorphine.

Statistics

  • Practice Stats: 445 total staff members have completed the IT MATTTRs Team Training in MAT for OUD:
    • Providers: 103
    • Clinical Support (e.g. RN, LPN, MA, Pt Navigator, etc.): 208
    • Administrative Support Staff (e.g. medical records, front office, etc.): 106
    • Other Staff: 28
  • Practice Implementation:
    • Practice teams’ OUD and MAT knowledge increased overall.
    • From baseline to follow-up, the mean number of MAT components in practices increased from 4.8 to 13.9.
    • Pre-post analysis showed an increase in the number of patients receiving partial opioid agonist prescriptions and the number of patients completing at least six months of treatment with buprenorphine for OUD.
  • Pre-Post Community Knowledge, Attitudes & Beliefs (n=798):
    • Half (49%) of community survey respondents reported exposure to community-based intervention.
    • Increased exposure was associated with the belief that opioid addiction is a chronic disease (p = .0032) and the OUD can be treated locally (p = .0003).

Accomplishments

  • Successful recruitment of participating practices surpassed original recruitment goals.
  • The IT MATTTRs study simultaneously increased awareness of OUD and MAT resources within a local rural community and also engaged local primary care practices to increase capacity of treatment for OUD.
  • An opportunity to leverage additional funding has allowed the project to offer team training and provider training across the state.

Conferences & Publications

Conference

Date

Location

Type

American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) Annual Conference

April 22-23, 2021

Virtual

Poster

Colorado Consortium Provider Education Symposium

January 26, 2021

Virtual

Poster

North American Primary Care Research Group (NAPCRG) Annual Meeting

November 20-24, 2020

Virtual

Oral PresentationPoster

Public Health in the Rockies Annual Conference (PHiR)

August 26-28, 2020

Virtual

Oral PresentationPoster

Practice Based Research Network (PBRN) Conference

June 25-26, 2020

Virtual

Poster

Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Behavioral Health Workgroup Behavioral Health/Opioids Peer Learning Team Meeting

December 4-5, 2019

Rockville, MD

Oral Presentation

National Conference on Addiction Disorders (NCAD West)

October 24-26, 2019

Denver, CO

Oral Presentation

Colorado Consortium Provider Education Symposium

October 22, 2019

Aurora, CO

Poster

Medicaid Medical Directors Network (MMDN) Fall Meeting

September 17-18, 2019

Washington, DC

Oral Presentation

NAPCRG Annual Meeting

November 16-20, 2019

Toronto, Ontario

Oral PresentationPoster

PHiR

August 28-30, 2019

Keystone, CO

Oral PresentationPoster

International Conference on Practice Facilitation (ICPF)

June 26-27, 2019

Bethesda, MD

Oral Presentation

PBRN Conference

June 24-25, 2019

Bethesda, MD

Oral Presentation

Colorado Opioid Safety Summit

January 25, 2019

Lone Tree, CO

Oral Presentation

NAPCRG Annual Meeting

November 9-13, 2018

Chicago, IL

Poster

Engaging Communities in Education and Research (ECER)

September 21-23, 2018

Breckenridge, CO

Oral PresentationPoster

PBRN Conference

June 25-26, 2018

Bethesda, MD

Poster

PHiR

August 29-31, 2018

Copper Mountain, CO

Oral PresentationPoster

Colorado Opioid Safety Summit

January 25, 2018

Lone Tree, CO

Poster

NAPCRG Annual Meeting

November 17-21, 2017

Montreal, Canada

Poster

Oral Presentation Oral Presentation    Poster Poster


  • The balance of serving the community with concerns about treating opioid use disorder in rural primary care practices: A qualitative study from IT MATTTRs. Journal of Health Care Poor and Underserved. 2022 Feb.
  • Increasing Capacity for Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder in Rural Primary Care Practices. Annals of Family Medicine. In Review.
  • Cole ES, DiDomenico E, Green S, Heil SKR, Hilliard T, Mossburg SE, Sussman AL, Warwick J, Westfall JM, Zittleman L, Salvador JG. The who, the what, and the how: A description of strategies and lessons learned to expand access to medications for opioid use disorder in rural America. Subst Abus. 2021;42(2):123-129. doi: 10.1080/08897077.2021.1891492. Epub 2021 Mar 9. PMID: 33689594.
  • Curcija K, Zittleman L, Fisher M, Nease Jr DE, Dickinson LM, de la Cerda D, Sutter C, Ancona J, Rank J, Westfall JM. Does a Rural Community‐Based Intervention Improve Knowledge and Attitudes of Opioid Use Disorder and Medication‐Assisted Treatment? A Report From the IT MATTTRs Study. The Journal of Rural Health. 2020 Nov 26. https://doi.org/10.1111/jrh.12545
  • Zittleman L, Curcija K, Sutter C, Dickinson LM, Thomas J, de la Cerda D, Nease Jr DE, Westfall JM. Building capacity for medication assisted treatment in rural primary care practices: the IT MATTTRs practice team training. Journal of Primary Care & Community Health. 2020 Sep;11:2150132720953723. doi: 10.1177/2150132720953723. PMID: 32909491.
Page last reviewed February 2023
Page originally created July 2020