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Novel Practices that show potential to achieve desirable public health outcomes in a specific real-life setting and are in the process of generating evidence of effectiveness or may not yet be tested.
RELEASE DATE:
Peer Review Study
A retrospective registry-based chart review examined the various demographic and clinical risk factors associated with COVID-19 severity among patients aged 18-29. The study was done within a metropolitan health care system in Houston, TX. In the cohort of 1,853 young adult patients diagnosed with COVID-19 infection at a hospital encounter, including 226 pregnant women, 1,438 (78%) scored 0 on the Charlson Comorbidity Index, and 833 (45%) were obese (≥30 kg/m2). Within 30 days of their diagnostic encounter, 316 (17%) patients were diagnosed with pneumonia, 148 (8%) received other severe disease diagnoses, and 268 (14%) returned to the hospital after being discharged home. In multivariate logistic regression analyses, increasing age, male gender, Hispanic ethnicity, obesity, asthma history, congestive heart failure, cerebrovascular disease, and diabetes were predictive of severe disease diagnoses within 30 days. Non-Hispanic Black race, obesity, asthma history, myocardial infarction history, and household exposure were predictive of 30-day readmission.
Emerging Practices that show potential to achieve desirable public health outcomes in a specific real-life setting and produce early results that are consistent with the objectives of the activities and thus indicate effectiveness.
RELEASE DATE:
Peer Review Study
Youth nationwide face new intensified stressors like illness, death, social isolation, economic stress, food insecurity, family hardship, and increase domestic violence risk. These stressors are associated with outcomes like depression, behavioral problems, anxiety disorders, and worsened existing mental health conditions. School-based health centers (SBHCs) are a cost-effective health care delivery model that increases mental and behavioral health access and use. SBHC patients live in underserved communities and are at a greater risk for mental health issues. The qualitative data from this study highlight increased demand for mental health services and a lack of resources to meet this demand, resources to ensure universal telehealth technology access are needed to improve health care access for youth, and parental buy-in and support are crucial component of sustained care.
Emerging Practices that show potential to achieve desirable public health outcomes in a specific real-life setting and produce early results that are consistent with the objectives of the activities and thus indicate effectiveness.
RELEASE DATE:
Peer Review Study
This study describes harm reduction and health services provided by the U.S. syringe services programs (SSPs) in 2019 and changes in provision of those services in 2020. Many SSPs that offered health services in 2019 and remained operational in 2020 increased telehealth provision of mental health and primary care services, increased MOUD provision, and expanded harm reduction services, but most SSPs reduced or stopped on-site HIV and HCV testing. With the record high opioid overdose fatality rates in 2020, sustaining the trajectory of SSP growth and innovation leading up to and through 2020 requires ensuring adequate and flexible funding to support the life-saving work of SSPs in preventing future overdose deaths and outbreaks of HIV and HCV.
Emerging Practices that show potential to achieve desirable public health outcomes in a specific real-life setting and produce early results that are consistent with the objectives of the activities and thus indicate effectiveness.
RELEASE DATE:
Peer Review Study
In the United States, mobile health clinics are an important method for delivering high quality care to medically underserved populations. To address declining vaccination coverage among young children in Boston during the pandemic, Mattapan Community Health Center (Mattapan) and Codman Square Health Center (Codman Square) partnered with the Kraft Center for Community Health at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers to deploy a pediatric mobile health clinic as an adjunct to their in-person clinical services.
Promising Practices that show evidence of effectiveness in improving public health outcomes in a specific real-life setting, as indicated by achievement of aims consistent with the objectives of the activities, and are suitable for adaptation by other communities.
RELEASE DATE:
Peer Review Study
This article describes G4H, an intervention to mitigate loneliness. This article identifies the need for more interventions to address loneliness and seeks to contribute to the evidence available through a randomized controlled trial where individuals participate in either a group based belonging intervention (G4H) or in cognitive behavioral therapy. The research takes place in Australia and included 174 people who received the intervention prior to COVID-19, with follow up measures collected after COVID-19. Results indicated that both CBT and G4H were effective at improving symptoms, but G4H showed higher benefits regarding loneliness, depression, and wellbeing.
Promising Practices that show evidence of effectiveness in improving public health outcomes in a specific real-life setting, as indicated by achievement of aims consistent with the objectives of the activities, and are suitable for adaptation by other communities.
RELEASE DATE:
Peer Review Study
This article describes the implementation of a medical student-run, free virtual clinic providing medication assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid use disorder (OUD) in Miami, Florida during the COVID-19 pandemic. Eligibility criteria for accessing services through the clinic included Florida residency and an income below 200% of the federal poverty level. The article describes how the students promoted the clinic, the process for providing MAT virtually (under supervision of an attending physician), patient characteristics, and reports process evaluation data for the clinic. The practice strategy this article is focused on is access to MAT for people with OUD during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Promising Practices that show evidence of effectiveness in improving public health outcomes in a specific real-life setting, as indicated by achievement of aims consistent with the objectives of the activities, and are suitable for adaptation by other communities.
RELEASE DATE:
Peer Review Study
This article presents results from an intervention to provide medication assisted treatment (MAT) to individuals with opioid use disorder via telemedicine. This article describes outcomes for patients enrolled in the NYC Health+Hospitals Virtual Buprenorphine Clinic during the first nine weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic (March 26, 2020 through May 28, 2020). Results from this evaluation were mixed. Loss-to-follow-up was similar to rates observed in studies of in-person opioid treatment, but the authors note telemedicine-based opioid treatment poses barriers to patients who frequently change mobile phones or phone numbers, and patients with unreliable internet access. The authors also note that the generalizability of this intervention may be limited in settings with different patient populations or staff capacity.
Emerging Practices that show potential to achieve desirable public health outcomes in a specific real-life setting and produce early results that are consistent with the objectives of the activities and thus indicate effectiveness.
RELEASE DATE:
Peer Review Study
This article evaluates a partnership between the University of Maryland, Baltimore – an urban academic treatment center – and multiple rural behavioral health treatment centers to provide medication assisted treatment (MAT) to individuals with opioid use disorder via videoconference. Retention rates and toxicology results for patients who received MAT via videoconference were comparable to those receiving face-to-face treatment. It should be noted that data for this study were collected prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Emerging Practices that show potential to achieve desirable public health outcomes in a specific real-life setting and produce early results that are consistent with the objectives of the activities and thus indicate effectiveness.
RELEASE DATE:
Peer Review Study
This article presents the results of a non-randomized cohort study comparing opioid agonist therapy (medication assisted treatment [MAT]) for opioid use disorder received via telemedicine, in-person, or a mix of telemedicine and in-person visits. The study was conducted between January 2011 and June 2012 in Ontario, Canada. The telemedicine group had the highest one-year treatment retention rate, followed by the mixed group, and the in-person group had the lowest one-year treatment retention rate. The results suggest telemedicine could be an effective means of increasing access to MAT for opioid use disorder. It should be noted that the study was conducted prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, and replicability will vary based on local resources and MAT regulations.
Novel Practices that show potential to achieve desirable public health outcomes in a specific real-life setting and are in the process of generating evidence of effectiveness or may not yet be tested.
RELEASE DATE:
Peer Review Study
Based on a literature review, the article synthesizes strategies used to prevent interruption of care for persons with opioid use disorders (SUDs). The review included OUD treatment and harm reduction services in five continents and a range of settings from substance use treatment to street outreach programs. Innovative service modifications to adapt to COVID-19 circumstances primarily involved expanded use of telehealth services (e.g., telemedicine visits for buprenorphine, virtual individual or group therapy sessions, provision of donated or publicly available phones), increased take-home medication allowances for methadone and buprenorphine, expanded uptake of long-acting opioid medications (e.g. extended-release buprenorphine and naltrexone), home delivery of services (e.g. MOUD, naloxone and urine drug screening), outreach and makeshift services for delivering MOUD and naloxone, and provision of a safe supply of opioids.