Los Angeles-based Cedars-Sinai created a program that helps hospitalized patients with opioid use disorders receive addiction consultations and improve patient outcomes.
The study, published April 7 in JAMA Internal Medicine and led by Cedars-Sinai and RAND, included 325 patients across three hospitals who had a probable diagnosis of opioid use disorder between 2021 and 2023. The patients were enrolled in the Substance Use Treatment and Recovery Team program or received the usual hospital care.
Patients in the START program were paired with a physician and a social worker or case manager. The team provided diagnostic assessments, recommendations for treatment, psychosocial support, connections to post-hospital medical care and follow-up phone calls for one month.
Researchers found 57.3% patients in the START program began medication treatment for opioid use disorder while in the hospital, compared to 26.7% of patients in the traditional care group. START patients were also far more likely to access follow-up care within 30 days of discharge compared to the control group (72% vs. 48.1%).