Literature Collection

OBJECTIVE: To analyze matrix support for Family Health Strategy teams in relation to Mental Health in Children and Adolescents. METHOD: This is a research-intervention with a qualitative approach, based on the Institutional Analysis framework, Socio-clinic, carried out with eighteen health workers from two Family Health Strategy and Psychosocial Care Center teams of a small municipality in the countryside of the state of São Paulo, through eleven reflection meetings. RESULTS: The following themes emerged: The dynamics of relations in the FHS territory; Matrix Support as a technological device: unveiling established practices. Subsequently, the results were discussed based on the principles of Institutional Socio-clinic. CONCLUSION: Matrix support in children's mental health, based on Institutional Socio-clinic, favored the deterritorialization of professionals, revealing how mental health care is provided for children and adolescents, and the crossings that occur in the production of this care as well as possible paths to be followed to improve health actions.

OBJECTIVE: Individuals with serious mental illnesses represent a high-need, high-cost population. To address this population's needs under the State Innovation Models Initiative, Maine assisted Medicaid-participating behavioral health providers in changing to behavioral health homes (BHHs). The authors explored BHHs' experiences in transforming care from 2014 to 2017 and investigated changes in utilization, care coordination, and Medicaid expenditures before and after Medicaid-covered individuals enrolled in a BHH. METHODS: The authors interviewed stakeholders, conducted focus groups with BHH consumers and providers, and used pre-post analyses of Medicaid fee-for-service claims. Program features such as capitated payments, connection to the state's health information exchange, and one-on-one technical assistance altered delivery of behavioral health care. RESULTS: Interviewees reported some challenges, such as understanding team roles, sharing clinical data, and integrating care with primary care providers. Analyses of data for 7,560 BHH enrollees with serious and persistent mental illness (adults) or serious emotional disturbance (children) indicated no changes in inpatient admissions, 30-day inpatient readmissions, emergency department visits, behavioral health-related expenditures, and professional expenditures after the switch to the BHH model. Total Medicaid expenditures increased by $170 per beneficiary per month. The BHH model did not change several measures of utilization and expenditures, but it was well received by behavioral health providers. CONCLUSIONS: Medicaid programs experimenting with new care delivery models for individuals with complex conditions may look to the Maine experience for guidance in program design.

PROBLEM: Medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) is recommended for persons with opioid use disorder (OUD) during pregnancy. However, knowledge gaps exist about best practices for management of OUD during pregnancy and these data are needed to guide clinical care. PERIOD COVERED: 2014-2021. DESCRIPTION OF THE SYSTEM: Established in 2019, the Maternal and Infant Network to Understand Outcomes Associated with Medication for Opioid Use Disorder During Pregnancy (MAT-LINK) is a surveillance network of seven clinical sites in the United States. Boston Medical Center, Kaiser Permanente Northwest, The Ohio State University, and the University of Utah were the initial clinical sites in 2019. In 2021, three clinical sites were added to the network (the University of New Mexico, the University of Rochester, and the University of South Florida). Persons receiving care at the seven clinical sites are diverse in terms of geography, urbanicity, race and ethnicity, insurance coverage, and type of MOUD received. The goal of MAT-LINK is to capture demographic and clinical information about persons with OUD during pregnancy to better understand the effect of MOUD on outcomes and, ultimately, provide information for clinical care and public health interventions for this population. MAT-LINK maintains strict confidentiality through robust information technology architecture. MAT-LINK surveillance methods, population characteristics, and evaluation findings are described in this inaugural surveillance report. This report is the first to describe the system, presenting detailed information on funding, structure, data elements, and methods as well as findings from a surveillance evaluation. The findings presented in this report are limited to selected demographic characteristics of pregnant persons overall and by MOUD treatment status. Clinical and outcome data are not included because data collection and cleaning have not been completed; initial analyses of clinical and outcome data will begin in 2023. RESULTS: The MAT-LINK surveillance network gathered data on 5,541 reported pregnancies with a known pregnancy outcome during 2014-2021 among persons with OUD from seven clinical sites. The mean maternal age was 29.7 (SD = ±5.1) years. By race and ethnicity, 86.3% of pregnant persons were identified as White, 25.4% as Hispanic or Latino, and 5.8% as Black or African American. Among pregnant persons, 81.6% had public insurance, and 84.4% lived in urban areas. Compared with persons not receiving MOUD during pregnancy, those receiving MOUD during pregnancy were more likely to be older and White and to have public insurance. The evaluation of the surveillance system found that the initial four clinical sites were not representative of demographics of the South or Southwest regions of the United States and had low representation from certain racial and ethnic groups compared with the overall U.S. population; however, the addition of three clinical sites in 2021 made the surveillance network more representative. Automated extraction and processing improved the speed of data collection and analysis. The ability to add new clinical sites and variables demonstrated the flexibility of MAT-LINK. INTERPRETATION: MAT-LINK is the first surveillance system to collect comprehensive, longitudinal data on pregnant person-infant dyads with perinatal outcomes associated with MOUD during pregnancy from multiple clinical sites. Analyses of clinical site data demonstrated different sociodemographic characteristics between the MOUD and non-MOUD treatment groups. PUBLIC HEALTH ACTIONS: MAT-LINK is a timely and flexible surveillance system with data on approximately 5,500 pregnancies. Ongoing data collection and analyses of these data will provide information to support clinical and public health guidance to improve health outcomes among pregnant persons with OUD and their children.

PURPOSE: Clinical trial data support use of medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) in adolescents and young adults ("youth"), but qualitative data are lacking on the acceptability and importance of MOUD to youth, caregivers, and clinicians. We assessed how these stakeholders viewed the role of MOUD in treatment and recovery. METHODS: We recruited youth aged from 15 to 25 years with opioid use disorder who had received buprenorphine, naltrexone, or methadone and caregivers from a primary care-based youth addiction treatment program. We also recruited clinicians with addiction expertise from social work, nursing, pediatrics, internal medicine, and psychiatry. We conducted semistructured interviews assessing special considerations for MOUD use in youth. Three coders performed inductive and deductive thematic analysis of transcripts. RESULTS: Among 37 participants, including 15 youth (age range, 17-25 years), nine caregivers, and 13 clinicians, we identified three themes. (1) Medications support recovery in the short term: Youth described MOUD as beneficial in managing withdrawal symptoms. Notably, some youth and caregivers preferred to limit MOUD duration. (2) Medication adherence is affected by type of medication, dosing regimen, and route of administration. Participants endorsed long-acting, injectable MOUD for ease of use and youth's ability to continue engagement in "normal activities" without daily medication. (3) Caregiver involvement can support medication decisions and adherence. Youth and some clinicians described the need to assess caregiver involvement before incorporating them into treatment; caregivers and other clinicians described caregivers as critical in supporting accountability. DISCUSSION: MOUD is evidence-based, and its provision should be developmentally responsive and youth- and family-centered, incorporating caregivers when appropriate.