Text-Messaging Telehealth and Contingency Management for Opioid Use Disorder Treatment Engagement

Overview

There is growing recognition of the need for approaches to initiate treatment wherever patients touch the health care system, including the Emergency Department (ED). Most research has focused on initiation of medications for opioid use disorder (MOUDs) in the ED rather than ensuring continued treatment post-discharge. The investigators propose to adapt evidence-based interventions to support patients' complex needs and facilitate continued treatment, rather than discharging them and having them navigate outpatient treatment systems with limited support. The research team will randomize participants into 1 of 4 arms to receive varying degrees of augmented usual care, including daily check-ins and contingency management. The investigators plan to examine the effects of check-ins and contingency management on engagement with addiction treatment and equity of treatment effects among racial and ethnic subgroups and assess important moderators of treatment effects.

The investigators are proposing to conduct a randomized controlled trial to determine the effectiveness of various text-based and contingency management interventions on Opioid Use Disorder patients. Our goals are to measure their engagement with recovery treatment. The research team plan to enroll 1,649 participants into one of the following 4 arms. Patients enrolled into the Way to Health CareConnect text line as part of usual care and meeting eligibility criteria will be enrolled in this randomized control trial and randomized to: Augmented usual care (standard Way to HealthCareConnect text line) Patients can call or text the on-call substance use navigators (SUN) from 9a-9p, 7 days a week. Augmented usual care + text-message check-ins (standard Way to Health CareConnect Text line) Patients can call or text the on-call substance use navigators (SUN) from 9a-9p, 7 days a week AND (text-message check-ins) patients will receive automated text-message check-ins up to once per day for 30 days to see if the patient needs help with anything. Augmented usual care + contingency management (standard Way to Health CareConnect Text line) and, participants will be compensated for going to their follow-up appointments. Augmented usual care + CM + Text-message check-ins (standard Way to Health CareConnect text line) AND text-message check-ins-patients will receive automated text-message check-ins up to once per day for 30 days to see if the patient needs help with anything AND, participants will receive compensation for attending their follow-up appointments. Patients enrolled in the trial will also be invited to complete the intake survey and follow-up surveys. Patients will receive financial compensation for completing these surveys. The study team plans to enroll 1,649 participants for this study.