Dissolution of a harm reduction track for opiate agonist treatment: longitudinal impact on treatment retention, substance use and service utilization.

Background: There is great need to sustain harm reduction programmes for opiate-dependent persons, given variable retention of opioid agonist treatment (OAT) enrolees. Resource challenges may lead some health organizations to discontinue such programmes, though just as programmatic evaluation may determine efficacy and cost-effectiveness so to does it aid in examining impacts of programme dissolution.

Methods: This retrospective evaluation investigated impacts of the dissolution of a 'Minimal Services' (MS) harm reduction programme for substance-abusing OAT clientele at an urban U.S. Veterans Affairs Medical Centre. Targeted clinical data concerning treatment retention, substance use and service utilization was abstracted from medical records of MS-assignees (N=32) and a matched comparison group of standard OAT enrolees. Chart reviewers gathered data for a two-year period encompassing baseline, transitional, and dissolution study phases.

Results: Relative to matched-controls, MS-assignees exhibited: (1) disproportionately poor treatment retention over the two-year period; (2) high and temporally stable rates of documented substance use across study phases, and (3) increased utilization of resource-laden VAMC services after MS dissolution.

Conclusion: Collective results suggest MS programme dissolution was associated with adverse conditions for assignees and the larger treatment setting, and reinforce the need for pragmatic, humane treatment policies to facilitate retention of opiate-dependent persons.