Viral Hepatitis and Human Immunodeficiency Virus Testing and Linkage to Care for Individuals Enrolled in an Opioid Treatment Program.

Background: In the United States, many opioid treatment programs (OTPs) do not offer viral hepatitis (VH) or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) testing despite high prevalence among OTP clients. We initiated an opt-out VH and HIV testing and linkage-to-care program within our OTP.

Methods: All OTP intakes are screened for VH and HIV and evaluated for rescreening annually.

Evaluation of an emergency department buprenorphine induction and medication-assisted treatment referral program.

Background: Emergency departments are struggling to manage the increasing number of patients seen for opioid use disorders and opioid overdose. With opioid overdose deaths rising at alarming rates, emergency physicians are beginning to induce patients with long-acting opioids such as buprenorphine and referring patients to outpatient medication-assisted treatment facilities. The objective of this study was to describe a pragmatic approach to buprenorphine induction, referral to treatment, and assess follow-up rates.

Monitoring opioid addiction and treatment: Do you know if your population is engaged?

Background: Assessment of people affected by opioid-related problems and those receiving care is challenging due to lack of common definitions and scattered information. We sought to fill this gap by demonstrating a method to describe a continuum of opioid addiction care in a large, public safety-net institution.

Methods: Using 2017 clinical and administrative data from Denver Health (DH), we created operational definitions for opioid use disorder (OUD), opioid misuse (OM), and opioid poisoning (OP).