Literature Collection

Few patients with opioid use disorder receive medication for addiction treatment. In 2017 the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act enabled nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs) to obtain federal waivers allowing them to prescribe buprenorphine, a key medication for opioid use disorder. The waiver expansion was intended to increase patients' access to opioid use treatment, which was particularly important for rural areas with few physicians. However, little is known about the adoption of these waivers by NPs or PAs in rural areas. Using federal data, we examined waiver adoption in rural areas and its association with scope-of-practice regulations, which set the extent to which NPs or PAs can prescribe medication. From 2016 to 2019 the number of waivered clinicians per 100,000 population in rural areas increased by 111 percent. NPs and PAs accounted for more than half of this increase and were the first waivered clinicians in 285 rural counties with 5.7 million residents. In rural areas, broad scope-of-practice regulations were associated with twice as many waivered NPs per 100,000 population as restricted scopes of practice were. The rapid growth in the numbers of NPs and PAs with buprenorphine waivers is a promising development in improving access to addiction treatment in rural areas.

BACKGROUND: Position statements clarify key issues that are in alignment with the vision, mission, and values of the AMERSA, Inc. (Association for Multidisciplinary Education and Research in Substance use and Addiction). This Position Statement, endorsed by the AMERSA Board of Directors on October 3, 2023, amplifies the position of the organization, guides their activities, and informs the public and policymakers on the organization's stance on this issue. ISSUE: The unregulated drug supply in the United States evolves constantly, leaving those who use drugs potentially unaware of new adulterants in their drugs. Not knowing that information can leave people vulnerable to serious adverse events such as fatal overdoses, wounds, and other health consequences. Without real-time data on the composition of drugs available in a community, healthcare providers and public health practitioners are left with insufficient data, making it increasingly difficult to know how to best serve people who use drugs. In this context, community-based drug checking has become recognized as an important harm reduction strategy with the potential to provide those who use drugs with more information about their supply. RECOMMENDATIONS: It is imperative to expand funding and increase access to drug checking programs in communities across the United States. Key policy changes, such as those related to decriminalizing drug and drug paraphernalia possession, are needed to increase the utilization of drug checking programs. Protection of persons who use drugs through harm reduction strategies, including drug checking programs needs to be widely available and accessible.

BACKGROUND: Treatments for mental health and substance use problems have historically been unintegrated, limiting co-occurring disorders treatment. Blending discrete payment models is one potential facilitator of integrated care. This study assesses the impact of one blended payment strategy on the diagnosis of co-occurring disorders in a community mental health system. METHODS: Electronic health record data for 19373 individuals, with 173889 observations from January 2017 through December 2019 was analyzed for this study. Multilevel growth modelling was used for data analysis. A binary dependent variable represented whether a service user held diagnoses of co-occurring disorders within a month. Fixed effects included time variables and a variable representing blended payment initiation as well as race, gender, age, and payor. Service user and agency variables were modeled as random effects. FINDINGS: Blended capitated and fee-for-service payments were found to increase the odds of service users receiving co-occurring diagnoses. People of color had lower odds of receiving a co-occurring diagnosis, although this effect did not hold in an analysis of rural agencies. Service users receiving care in unintegrated agencies had higher odds of receiving co-occurring diagnoses. CONCLUSION: This study is one of the first to assess the impacts of a blended payment model on behavioral health access. Blended payment models can incentivize behavioral health providers and systems to identify complex diagnoses that may go unrecognized in routine care.

IMPORTANCE: Alcohol withdrawal syndrome (AWS) is an important cause and complication of hospitalizations. Although common and preventable, the incidence of AWS during hospitalizations is poorly described. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the incidence and proportional incidence of hospitalizations involving AWS in an adult primary care population overall and across patient characteristics. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This retrospective cohort study used electronic health records and insurance claims from Kaiser Permanente Washington (KPWA) between July 1, 2018, and June 30, 2022. The study included adults with 1 or more primary care visits during this period or the year prior, where primary care included annual standardized alcohol screening using the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test-Consumption (AUDIT-C). EXPOSURES: Age, sex, race, Hispanic ethnicity, AUDIT-C scores, and comorbid diagnoses. MAIN OUTCOME AND MEASURES: Hospitalizations involving AWS were defined by diagnosis codes documented during hospitalizations (incidence numerator). Time enrolled in KPWA determined person-enrolled-years (incidence denominator). Proportional incidence was calculated as the incidence of hospitalizations involving AWS divided by the incidence of all-cause hospitalizations. Proportional incidence was also estimated for hospitalizations involving other common chronic conditions (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, heart failure, and hypertension), which were also defined using hospital diagnosis codes. RESULTS: Among 544 825 adults engaged in primary care (mean [SD] age, 47.0 [17.9] years; 310 069 [56.9%] female; 3656 [0.7%] American Indian or Alaska Native, 55 206 [10.1%] Asian, 25 406 [4.7%] Black, 5204 [1.0%] Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, 365 780 [67.1%] White, 19 791 [3.6%] multiracial, 15 963 [2.9%] other races, and 53 819 [9.9%] unknown race; 33 987 [6.2%] Hispanic, 414 269 [76.0%] not Hispanic, and 96 569 [17.7%] unknown ethnicity), incidence of hospitalizations involving AWS was 169 (95% CI, 159-179) per 100 000 person-enrolled-years overall but as high as 15 347 (95% CI, 13 502-17 331) in patients with other alcohol-attributable diagnoses. The proportional incidence of hospitalizations involving AWS was 2.3% overall, with variation by age, sex, and AUDIT-C scores (eg, 9%-11% in male patients aged 30-49 years and 23%-44% in patients with high-risk AUDIT-C scores of 7-12 points). In most cases, among adults younger than 60 years, proportional incidence of hospitalizations involving AWS matched or surpassed that of other common chronic conditions (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, heart failure, and hypertension). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In this cohort study of a large primary care population served by an integrated health system, AWS hospitalizations were common, especially in male patients, younger age groups, and individuals with high-risk alcohol use. During hospitalizations, the burden of AWS was similar to or exceeded complications of other chronic diseases that receive greater medical attention.

ObjectiveThis research aims to investigate the relapse rates of major depressive disorder (MDD) within primary care and evaluate the efficacy of relapse prevention therapies. Despite primary care being the common point of contact for MDD patients, there are limited studies around this.MethodsWe included randomized controlled trials and observational studies examining MDD relapse incidence and the effect of pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions in preventing relapse in primary care. Databases; Medline via Ovid, EMBASE, The Cochrane Library, PsycInfo (ebsco), and Clinical Trials.gov were searched from their inception until September 7, 2022. Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) appraisal instrument for methodological quality assessment was used. A proportional data analysis estimated the MDD relapse incidence. Therapy effectiveness results were shown as odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals, with heterogeneity explored via subgroup analysis.ResultsOut of the reviewed studies, 35 met the eligibility criteria. Quality appraisal scores varied between 73% and 96%. MDD relapse incidence was divided into subgroups, revealing that both pharmacotherapy and non-pharmacotherapy led to a similar decrease in relapse rates with combination therapies showing further reduction in relapse. Subgroup analyses by study design, follow-up length, date of study and quality of study also yielded noteworthy findings.ConclusionOur findings showed that MDD relapse rates in primary care settings can be effectively reduced by pharmacotherapy, non-pharmacotherapy, or combination therapy. Some psychological interventions might also reduce relapse likelihood. More studies are needed on individual and combined treatments over longer periods to understand their long-term impacts on MDD relapse in primary care.Plain Language Summary TitleHow Often Depression Returns and How Well Treatments Work in Primary Care: A Review of Studies.; This study looked at how often people depression experience return of symptoms, when they are treated in primary care settings, such as family doctor clinics, and how well different treatments work to prevent this return of symptoms. Even though primary care is where many people with depression first seek help, there hasn't been much research on how to best prevent this return of symptoms in this setting. To gather information, the study looked at and summarized the studies that were published around this topic following a standard procedure. The study found that both medication and non-medication treatments were beneficial in reducing the chances of return of depression symptoms. Furthermore, using a combination of treatments was even more beneficial. The study also found interesting results when looking at different factors like the type of study and follow-up duration. In conclusion, this study suggests that various treatment options can effectively reduce return of depression symptoms in primary care. This includes medications, psychological therapies, or a combination of both. However, more research is needed to better understand how these treatments work over longer periods and their long-term effects people with depression.; eng

STUDY OBJECTIVE: Naloxone, an opioid-antagonist deliverable by an intra-nasal route, has become widely available and utilized by law enforcement officers as well as basic life support (BLS) providers in the prehospital setting. This study aimed to determine the frequency of repeat naloxone dosing in suspected narcotic overdose (OD) patients and identify patient characteristics. METHODS: A retrospective chart review of patients over 17 years of age with suspected opioid overdose, treated with an initial intranasal (IN) dose of naloxone and subsequently managed by paramedics, was performed from April 2014 to June 2016. Demographic data was analyzed using descriptive statistics to identify those aspects of the history, physical exam findings. Results: A sample size of 2166 patients with suspected opioid OD received naloxone from first responders. No patients who achieved GCS 15 after treatment required redosing; 195 (9%) received two doses and 53 patients received three doses of naloxone by advanced life support. Patients were primarily male (75.4%), Caucasian (88.2%), with a mean age of 36.4 years. A total of 76.7% of patients were found in the home, 23.1% had a suspected mixed ingestion, and 27.2% had a previous OD. Two percent of all patients required a third dose of naloxone. CONCLUSION: In this prehospital study, we confirmed that intranasal naloxone is effective in reversing suspected opioid toxicity. Nine percent of patients required two or more doses of naloxone to achieve clinical reversal of suspected opioid toxicity. Two percent of patients received a third dose of naloxone.