Wrapping Care — including transportation — Around Patients With Drug Use–Associated Infections

Increasing medication-assisted treatment (MAT) and adding wrap-around services can improve the care of opioid use disorder (OUD) and potentially lower the rate of injection drug use–associated infections (IDU-AIs), according to Sarah R. Blevins, PharmD, the HIV clinical pharmacist at the University of Kentucky HealthCare (UKHC), in Lexington. . . .

The success of the HIV program led them to reach other patients with OUD. They implemented a multidisciplinary program to expand access to MAT, such as buprenorphine and naltrexone, and added wrap-around services, such as addiction and mental health counseling, social services and transportation vouchers, to diminish overdose deaths, ease the financial burden on health care, and improve patient outcomes, according to Blevins. . . .

In addition to medication, they were offered mental health counseling at UKHC or another facility, infectious disease follow-up for their infections, and other services, as needed. Transportation was one of the biggest wrap-around services that were required, according to Blevins.