Literature Collection

INTRODUCTION: US opioid overdoses and deaths continue to increase, despite historic national investment to mitigate risk and improve access to evidence-based treatment. Unfortunately, implementation of emergency department (ED) buprenorphine - an effective medical treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD) - has been limited. Our objective was to assess the effectiveness of an electronic health record (EHR)-integrated, interruptive clinical decision support (CDS) tool to improve rates of ED initiated OUD treatment. METHODS: This is an observational, pre-post study of a CDS tool designed to identify and facilitate treatment of patients with OUD using electronic health record data. Patients were included if treated at our urban, academic ED between May 1, 2022, and November 8, 2023. The CDS triggered based on a rules-based algorithm using routinely collected EHR data which were identified from a previously validated EHR OUD phenotype. Outcomes are organized under a modified RE-AIM framework, with the primary outcome, Effectiveness, measured by the proportion of OUD patients receiving buprenorphine (administered/prescribed; filled prescriptions). Secondary outcomes include patient Reach, clinician Adoption, and fidelity to Implementation. Chi Square tests and Bayesian structural time-series models evaluate differences in outcomes before and after CDS implementation (CausalImpact package v1.3.0 in R v4.4.0). RESULTS: There were 171,221 total ED visits during the study period. Patient characteristics before and after CDS implementation were similar. CDS triggered in 4.7 % (2754/58,173) of encounters after initiation of intervention, reaching 116 unique emergency medicine providers and 2566 ED patients. Clinicians adopted the CDS, accessing the OUD treatment pathway link or ordering a social work consult for substance use, in 27 % (1266/4746) of CDS alerts. When compared to the pre-implementation period, CDS implementation was associated with increased buprenorphine administration in the ED by 31 % (95 % CI: 16-47 %, p = 0.001), buprenorphine prescribing from the ED by 20 % (95 % CI: 5-38 %, p = 0.007), and the buprenorphine fill rate at an affiliated ED pharmacy by 17 % (95 % CI: 1-36 %, p = 0.017). CONCLUSIONS: Implementation of an EHR-integrated, CDS was associated with increased ED buprenorphine administration, prescribing, and prescription fills among ED patients with OUD. Further efforts are needed to assess maintenance strategies that improve adoption, minimize interruptiveness, and optimize workflow congruence.

BACKGROUND: Co-prescribing naloxone alongside opioid prescriptions reduces fatal opioid overdose risk in patients discharged from inpatient care, yet its adoption remains limited. Clinical decision support (CDS) tools are effective in increasing naloxone co-prescribing in emergency and primary care settings, but data from the inpatient setting is sparse. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness of an electronic health record (EHR)-integrated CDS tool on rates of naloxone co-prescribing for patients discharged from inpatient care with high-risk opioid prescriptions. DESIGN: This observational, pre-post study evaluated an EHR-embedded CDS tool implemented within an integrated health system between July 10, 2011, and July 15, 2023. STUDY SAMPLE: Adult patients discharged from inpatient care with opioid prescriptions that met the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention high-risk criteria for opioid prescribing. INTERVENTIONS: A multidisciplinary team designed an interruptive CDS best practice alert to identify high-risk opioid prescriptions. The CDS offered prescribers a one-click option to add a naloxone co-prescription. MAIN MEASURES: Outcomes are organized under the RE-AIM implementation science framework, with the primary outcome, Effectiveness, measured by the proportion of patients receiving a naloxone prescription. Secondary outcomes include patient Reach, clinician Adoption, and fidelity to Implementation. Bayesian structural time-series models were used to evaluate differences in outcomes. KEY RESULTS: During the study period, there were 355,465 inpatient discharges. In the post-intervention period, the CDS was triggered in 2.2% (7799/355,465) of all discharges and 6.36% (7799/122,643) of all discharge opioid prescriptions. Compared to the pre-implementation period, CDS was associated with a weekly increase in inpatient naloxone co-prescribing by 4.7 prescriptions per 100 opioid prescriptions (95% CI 4.3-5, p = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Implementation of an EHR-embedded CDS was associated with increased naloxone co-prescribing for high-risk opioid prescriptions in the inpatient setting. This finding demonstrates the potential of targeted, interruptive CDS tools to enhance opioid safety efforts in the inpatient setting.

In years past, an adolescent patient presenting to primary care with symptoms of opioid use disorder (OUD) would have been a highly rare event in most communities. With OUD and fatal overdoses rising among adolescents and young adults (termed youth) over the past 15 years, this scenario has unfortunately become more common. Fatal drug overdoses increased 3.5-fold for youth aged 15 to 24 years from 1999 to 2014.1 Amidst this epidemic, relatively little is known about how primary care clinicians treat youth with OUD. Of particular interest is whether youth receive medication-assisted treatments (MATs), which have been shown to improve quality of life and reduce overdose risk.2

BACKGROUND: Co-occurring substance use disorders (SUDs) among individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD) are associated with additional impairment, overdose, and death. This study examined characteristics of patients who have OUD with and without co-occurring SUDs in rural primary care clinics. METHODS: Secondary analysis used electronic health record (EHR) data from six rural primary care clinics, including demographics, diagnoses, encounters, and prescriptions of medication for OUD (MOUD), as well as EHR data from an external telemedicine vendor that provided MOUD to some clinic patients. The study population included all adult patients who had a visit to the participating clinics from October 2019 to January 2021. RESULTS: We identified 1164 patients with OUD; 72.6 % had OUD only, 11.5 % had OUD and stimulant use disorder (OUD + StUD), and 15.9 % had OUD and other non-stimulant substance use disorder (OUD + Other). The OUD + StUD group had the highest rates of hepatitis C virus (25.4 % for OUD + StUD, 17.8 % for OUD + Other, and 7.5 % for OUD Only; p < 0.001) and the highest rates of mental health disorders (78.4 %, 69.7 %, and 59.9 %, respectively; p < 0.001). Compared to the OUD Only group, patients in the OUD + StUD and OUD + Other groups were more likely to receive telehealth services provided by clinic staff, in-clinic behavioral health services, and in-clinic MOUD. The OUD + StUD group had the highest proportion of referrals to the external telemedicine vendor. CONCLUSIONS: More than 27 % of patients with OUD in rural primary care clinics had other co-occurring SUDs, and these patients received more healthcare services than those with OUD only. Future studies should examine variations in outcomes associated with these other services among patients with OUD and co-occurring SUDs.