Literature Collection

BACKGROUND: Improving access to treatment for opioid use disorder is a national priority, but little is known about the barriers encountered by patients seeking buprenorphine-naloxone ("buprenorphine") treatment. OBJECTIVE: To assess real-world access to buprenorphine treatment for uninsured or Medicaid-covered patients reporting current heroin use. DESIGN: Audit survey ("secret shopper" study). SETTING: 6 U.S. jurisdictions with a high burden of opioid-related mortality (Massachusetts, Maryland, New Hampshire, West Virginia, Ohio, and the District of Columbia). PARTICIPANTS: From July to November 2018, callers contacted 546 publicly listed buprenorphine prescribers twice, posing as uninsured or Medicaid-covered patients seeking buprenorphine treatment. MEASUREMENTS: Rates of new appointments offered, whether buprenorphine prescription was possible at the first visit, and wait times. RESULTS: Among 1092 contacts with 546 clinicians, schedulers were reached for 849 calls (78% response rate). Clinicians offered new appointments to 54% of Medicaid contacts and 62% of uninsured-self-pay contacts, whereas 27% of Medicaid and 41% of uninsured-self-pay contacts were offered an appointment with the possibility of buprenorphine prescription at the first visit. The median wait time to the first appointment was 6 days (interquartile range [IQR], 2 to 10 days) for Medicaid contacts and 5 days (IQR, 1 to 9 days) for uninsured-self-pay contacts. These wait times were similar regardless of clinician type or payer status. The median wait time from first contact to possible buprenorphine induction was 8 days (IQR, 4 to 15 days) for Medicaid and 7 days (IQR, 3 to 14 days) for uninsured-self-pay contacts. LIMITATION: The survey sample included only publicly listed buprenorphine prescribers. CONCLUSION: Many buprenorphine prescribers did not offer new appointments or rapid buprenorphine access to callers reporting active heroin use, particularly those with Medicaid coverage. Nevertheless, wait times were not long, implying that opportunities may exist to increase access by using the existing prescriber workforce.

BACKGROUND: Since the COVID-19 pandemic, telemedicine has been widely integrated into primary care pediatrics. While initial studies showed some concern for disparities in telemedicine use, telemedicine uptake for pediatric patients in a low-income, primarily Latino community over a sustained period has yet to be described. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to assess the relationship between demographics, patient portal activation, and telemedicine visits, as well as characterize diagnoses addressed in telemedicine, in a low-income, primarily Latino population over time. METHODS: A multidisciplinary team conducted outreach for telemedicine and patient portal activation with the adoption of a new electronic health record. Data were collected on all in-person and telemedicine visits from February 2020 through April 2021 for 4 community-based pediatric practices. The outcomes included patient portal activation, telemedicine use, and reason for telemedicine visits. Bivariate tests and multivariate regression analyses were conducted to assess the independent effects of demographics on the likelihood of portal activation and having a telemedicine visit. Telemedicine diagnoses were categorized, and subanalyses were conducted to explore variations by age and month. RESULTS: There were 12,377 unique patients and 7127 telemedicine visits. Latino patients made up 83.4% (n=8959) of the population. Nearly all patients (n=10,830, 87.5%) had an activated portal, and 33.8% (n=4169) had at least 1 telemedicine visit. Portal activation decreased with age >2 years (2-4 years: adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 0.62, 95% CI 0.51-0.76; 5-11 years: aOR 0.28, 95% CI 0.23-0.32; 12-14 years: aOR 0.29, 95% CI 0.23-0.35; and 15-17 years: aOR 0.46, 95% CI 0.36-0.58). Spanish-speaking (aOR 0.52, 95% CI 0.45-0.59) and non-Latino patients (aOR 0.64, 95% CI 0.54-0.76) had decreased odds of activation and having a telemedicine visit (aOR 0.81, 95% CI 0.74-0.89 and aOR 0.71, 95% CI 0.62-0.81, respectively). The top 5 diagnostic categories for telemedicine were infectious disease (n=1749, 26.1%), dermatology (n=1287, 19.5%), gastrointestinal (n=771, 11.7%), well and follow-up care (n=459, 7%), and other specialty-related care (n=415, 6.3%). Infectious disease showed the most variation over time. Age-based patterns included a decrease in the proportion of infectious disease diagnoses by increasing age group and a higher proportion of well and follow-up care in older ages. Additional telemedicine diagnoses included common infant concerns for patients younger than 2 years of age; pulmonary, asthma, and allergy concerns for toddler or school-age children; behavioral health concerns for younger adolescents; and genitourinary and gynecologic concerns for older adolescents. CONCLUSIONS: The high engagement across demographics suggests feasibility and interest in telemedicine in this low-income, primarily Latino population, which may be attributable to the strength of outreach. Language-based disparities were still present. Telemedicine was used for a wide range of diagnoses. As telemedicine remains a vital component of pediatric health care, targeted interventions may enhance engagement to serve diverse pediatric patient populations.

The aim of this study was to assess the availability of medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) and other services for pregnant people in jails in counties heavily impacted by opioid overdose in the United States. Counties were selected based on absolute number and population rate of opioid-overdose fatalities. Structured interviews were completed with representatives from 174 jails that house pregnant women. Descriptive statistics examine MOUD availability and differences in service provision and community-level characteristics based on MOUD availability. Most jails in the study sample (84.5%) had MOUD available for pregnant people; however, less than half of these jails ensured continuity of care. Jails without MOUD available are more likely to provide non-MOUD substance use services. These jails are more often located in smaller, rural counties in the Midwest and have higher rates of White residents and lower rates of Hispanic and African American residents. Gaps in MOUD availability in jails and continuity of care violate medical guidelines for treatment of pregnant patients with opioid use disorder and increase their risk of overdose. In addition, there are disparities across communities in access to MOUD for pregnant people in jails.

IMPORTANCE: Many states have moved from models that carve out to those that carve in or integrate behavioral health in their Medicaid managed care organizations (MCOs), but little evidence exists about the effect of this change. OBJECTIVE: To assess the association of the transition to integrated managed care (IMC) in Washington Medicaid with health services use, quality, health-related outcomes, and measures associated with social determinants of health. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This cohort study used difference-in-differences analyses of Washington State's 2014 to 2019 staggered rollout of IMC on claims-based measures for enrollees in Washington's Medicaid MCO. It was supplemented with interviews of 24 behavioral health agency leaders, managed care administrators, and individuals who were participating in the IMC transition. The data were analyzed between February 1, 2023, and September 30, 2023. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Claims-based measures of utilization (including specialty mental health visits and primary care visits); health-related outcomes (including self-harm events); rates of arrests, employment, and homelessness; and additional quality measures. RESULTS: This cohort study included 1 454 185 individuals ages 13 to 64 years (743 668 female [51.1%]; 14 306 American Indian and Alaska Native [1.0%], 132 804 Asian American and Pacific Islander [9.1%], 112 442 Black [7.7%], 258 389 Hispanic [17.8%], and 810 304 White [55.7%] individuals). Financial integration was not associated with changes in claims-based measures of utilization and quality. Most claims-based measures of outcomes were also unchanged, although enrollees with mild or moderate mental illness experienced a slight decrease in cardiac events (-0.8%; 95% CI, -1.4 to -0.2), while enrollees with serious mental illness experienced small decreases in employment (-1.2%; 95% CI -1.9 to -0.5) and small increases in arrests (0.5%; 95% CI, 0.1 to 1.0). Interviews with key informants suggested that financial integration was perceived as an administrative change and did not have substantial implications for how practices delivered care; behavioral health agencies lacked guidance on how to integrate care in behavioral health settings and struggled with new contracts and regulatory policies that may have inhibited the ability to provide integrated care. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: The results of this cohort study suggest that financial integration at the MCO level was not associated with significant changes in most measures of utilization, quality, outcomes, and social determinants of health. Additional support, including monitoring, training, and funding, may be necessary to drive delivery system changes to improve access, quality, and outcomes.