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Yale Psychiatry Grand Rounds: "Integration of Addiction Treatment in Mental Health Care"

March 08, 2024
  • 00:00Thank you, Doctor O'Malley,
  • 00:02for the kind introduction and all
  • 00:05the mentorship over the years.
  • 00:07It is really a privilege
  • 00:09to be mentored by you.
  • 00:10Today we're going to talk about
  • 00:12integrating integration of addiction
  • 00:14treatments in mental health care.
  • 00:19We have no conflicts of interest
  • 00:21to disclose the learning objectives
  • 00:23for today's talk will identify
  • 00:25the need to integrate substance
  • 00:27use treatment in mental health,
  • 00:29primary care and other medical settings.
  • 00:33We'll discuss the role of psychiatrists
  • 00:35and other clinicians in the treatment
  • 00:37of Co occurring substance use and
  • 00:39mental health disorders And we'll
  • 00:41describe the functioning of an addiction
  • 00:43treatment consultation clinic in a
  • 00:45general psychiatry ambulatory setting.
  • 00:49Before we dive in, let's look
  • 00:51at the big picture of of the
  • 00:53addiction epidemic in in in America.
  • 00:58Based on 20/20 and SDUH data,
  • 01:02138.5 million people aged 12 and
  • 01:04older used alcohol in the past month.
  • 01:0961.6 million people in the
  • 01:10US reported binge shrinking.
  • 01:12In the past month,
  • 01:15178,000 deaths in the US were
  • 01:16due to excessive alcohol use.
  • 01:17That's 500 deaths per day.
  • 01:21Over 2 million people in the
  • 01:23US have opioid use disorder.
  • 01:25close to 200 people die each
  • 01:27day because of opioid overdose.
  • 01:3159.3 million people used
  • 01:33illicit drugs in the past year.
  • 01:34That is 21.4% of our population,
  • 01:3940.3 million people.
  • 01:41That is 14.5% of our population met
  • 01:44criteria for substance use disorders.
  • 01:45So these folks individuals are having
  • 01:48impairments because of the substance use,
  • 01:52but only 2.6 million individuals that
  • 01:55is 6.5% receive any type of treatment
  • 02:01and unfortunately the majority of the
  • 02:03treatment is provided in speciality
  • 02:05substance use treatment centers.
  • 02:10Now think about it.
  • 02:11If this was diabetes or heart disease,
  • 02:14there would be a national outrage
  • 02:17that only only 6.5% are being treated.
  • 02:22So that's one in 10 People
  • 02:25receive any addictions care,
  • 02:26and for those with any mental
  • 02:29illness and substance use disorders,
  • 02:31it's much less. It's 5.7%.
  • 02:37This was an old paper from 2000,
  • 02:40but much relevant even now.
  • 02:42And Doctor Kleber's group has written
  • 02:46this paper talking about the relapse,
  • 02:49comparing the relapse rates of
  • 02:51various chronic conditions.
  • 02:53And contrary to the the popular
  • 02:56belief that substance use
  • 02:57disorders can be treated well,
  • 02:59the relapse rates are similar
  • 03:02or better with treatment
  • 03:06for drug substance use as compared to
  • 03:08diabetes, hypertension, asthma, etcetera.
  • 03:11So these conditions can be treated and one
  • 03:15of the mistakes that we do as psychiatrists,
  • 03:18as providers is we characterize
  • 03:21substance use as acute condition and
  • 03:23we see a patient in the Ed and tell
  • 03:25them to quit drinking as if that would
  • 03:29that would help the patient, right.
  • 03:30So we have to think about it as a chronic
  • 03:33medical illness such as diabetes,
  • 03:35hypertension and asthma,
  • 03:36which would help us work on prevention
  • 03:39and treatment of these conditions.
  • 03:44We've talked about 500 deaths per day.
  • 03:45That's one in five deaths in the
  • 03:48US for population 20 to 49 years.
  • 03:50Despite this magnitude of the problem,
  • 03:53what we see really in addiction treatment
  • 03:56programs is really the tip of the triangle.
  • 03:58We really are focused on treating
  • 04:02the tip of patients with severe
  • 04:04alcohol use disorders and by the
  • 04:06time we see them, it's quite late.
  • 04:10Unhealthy alcohol use is defined as
  • 04:13those with at risk use as well as
  • 04:15those with alcohol use disorder and
  • 04:17NA AAA definition of at risk use
  • 04:19is when men drink greater than 4
  • 04:22drinks per occasion or greater than
  • 04:2414 drinks per week or women drink
  • 04:26greater than 3 drinks per occasion
  • 04:28or greater than 7 drinks per week.
  • 04:30And we know that if we can screen
  • 04:33these patients and do interventions,
  • 04:36we could prevent the development
  • 04:37of alcohol use disorder.
  • 04:39We could also treat mild to moderate
  • 04:42alcohol disease much more effectively
  • 04:45in general psychiatry and primary
  • 04:48care treatment programs before they
  • 04:50come with a much severe disease
  • 04:52to addiction treatment clinics.
  • 04:56This was a study that was done looking
  • 04:58at brief interventions in primary
  • 05:00care settings and even screening.
  • 05:02Brief interventions and referral
  • 05:04to treatments are quite effective
  • 05:06in reducing alcohol use.
  • 05:10I'm going to focus a lot on
  • 05:14opioids and buprenorphine in
  • 05:16this talk to make my point.
  • 05:18Although we've seen that alcohol
  • 05:20use is a much bigger problem,
  • 05:24but considering that there's
  • 05:25the OPR epidemic going on,
  • 05:27I'll focus on specifically
  • 05:30entrepreneur and prescribing
  • 05:31an OPR dues to discuss today.
  • 05:37So you might have seen this graph.
  • 05:40These are the different
  • 05:41phases of the OPR epidemic.
  • 05:43In the late 90s and early 2000s,
  • 05:46there was this prescription OPR epidemic.
  • 05:48Pain was considered the 5th vital
  • 05:50sign and there was this push to
  • 05:52push prescribe pain medications.
  • 05:54It was the quality metrics for many
  • 05:58hospitals to evaluate pain and and
  • 06:00provide pain medications that led
  • 06:02to a pretty significant prescription
  • 06:05opioid epidemic at that time followed
  • 06:08by which by the time we realized and
  • 06:10we started correcting that there's
  • 06:12this huge heroin epidemic and
  • 06:14overdose death rates because of that.
  • 06:16And then we've had very good treatments
  • 06:19come in methadone buprenorphine
  • 06:20that have been effective and public
  • 06:22health campaigns have been effective.
  • 06:24But then we start having these
  • 06:27synthetic opioids like fentanyl and
  • 06:30and fentanyl logs which resulted in
  • 06:33exponential increase in in death rates.
  • 06:36And now there's probably a fourth wave
  • 06:39of Poly substance associated mortality.
  • 06:43This was an old Swedish study and
  • 06:46this is one of the initial studies
  • 06:49with buprenorphine where they
  • 06:52randomized 40 patients,
  • 06:5420 to receive you know detoxification
  • 06:58from bookanorphine within 45 to
  • 07:0160 days and then 20 patients to
  • 07:04to be continued on bookanorphine
  • 07:05treatment for the entire year.
  • 07:09And all the 20 patients in the
  • 07:14detoxification arm dropped out of
  • 07:16treatment within 60 days and majority
  • 07:18of the patients about 80 to 85% of those
  • 07:21in the maintenance stayed in treatment.
  • 07:25After a year of of this you you
  • 07:27don't need complicated statistics
  • 07:29to prove that buprenorphine works
  • 07:31and there's many clinical trials,
  • 07:34randomized clinical trials meta analysis
  • 07:37that showed that buprenorphine is
  • 07:39effective in fact for opioid reduction,
  • 07:41the number needed to treat is 2.
  • 07:43We don't hear those numbers in in a
  • 07:45lot of medications in in practice yet
  • 07:49this was a quote from Doctor Walter
  • 07:52Ling from UCLAI replaced the word
  • 07:57addict with people who use substances.
  • 08:00So we as a society,
  • 08:01society basically don't like people
  • 08:03who use substance to have something
  • 08:05that gets them even a little bit high.
  • 08:07We think people with substance use
  • 08:09disorder should get off drugs by
  • 08:11strenuously hauling upon their bootstraps
  • 08:13so that they should stay off no matter what.
  • 08:17Policy makers and some clinicians continue
  • 08:20to promote detoxification as treatment,
  • 08:22even though detoxification does nothing
  • 08:24to help people stay off of drugs.
  • 08:29This was a study that was
  • 08:31done in Massachusetts.
  • 08:32This was a retrospective cohort
  • 08:34study where they've looked at opioid
  • 08:37overdose survivors being admitted to
  • 08:41hospitals have been brought to the
  • 08:43emergency rooms and unfortunately
  • 08:45when even when they looked at the
  • 08:50charts after year of those who've
  • 08:53had a prior overdose and these
  • 08:55are high risk patients who came
  • 08:57to our facilities for treatment,
  • 08:59only three out of them out of 10
  • 09:02received medications for opioid use
  • 09:04disorder when we know in this study itself,
  • 09:06it showed that methadone would reduce
  • 09:08mortality by 53% and buprenorphine by 37%.
  • 09:13So why is this happening?
  • 09:14There's many factors.
  • 09:18We're not going to go into all of them,
  • 09:19but all of them boil down
  • 09:22to two major, major factors,
  • 09:27stigma and lack of provider education.
  • 09:33This was this was from a
  • 09:35Surgeon General's report, Vivek.
  • 09:36Dr. Vivek Muthi prioritized
  • 09:38integration of addiction treatment
  • 09:40into mainstream mental health,
  • 09:42and he released this report
  • 09:44a couple of years ago.
  • 09:46What he said was traditional
  • 09:48separation of substance use
  • 09:49without treatment from Main St.
  • 09:53Mainstream healthcare has created
  • 09:55obstacles in the individual seek
  • 09:58healthcare for other reasons
  • 10:00than substance use evidence
  • 10:02supports integrated treatments,
  • 10:04improves outcomes,
  • 10:05reduces health disparities and
  • 10:06reduces healthcare costs for
  • 10:08both patients and families.
  • 10:12Our current addiction workforce does
  • 10:14not have the capacity to meet the
  • 10:17existing need for integrated healthcare.
  • 10:20The General Healthcare workforce on the
  • 10:22other hand is under trained to deal
  • 10:24with the substance use related problems.
  • 10:26So we need urgently need a larger,
  • 10:28more diverse workforce to provide a much
  • 10:32more personalized and integrated care.
  • 10:36Now how do we integrate
  • 10:38substance use treatment into into
  • 10:40various healthcare settings?
  • 10:42We could do it at hospital settings,
  • 10:44in patient settings,
  • 10:45emergency room settings,
  • 10:47speciality care settings and
  • 10:49outpatient ambulatory settings.
  • 10:50I'm going to talk about
  • 10:51some work that we did.
  • 10:58Hospital based addiction consultation
  • 10:59centers have come across the country, right.
  • 11:04They've been shown to improve
  • 11:05patient engagement and treatment,
  • 11:07decreased hospital readmissions,
  • 11:08reduce service utilization costs and
  • 11:11improve addiction related outcomes.
  • 11:14They engage with patients while on
  • 11:15the inpatient service, providing
  • 11:16addiction treatment in the hospital,
  • 11:18then connecting them to outpatient care.
  • 11:20There's also bridge clinics that have started
  • 11:23and and there's evidence for them as well.
  • 11:26Although these traditional
  • 11:27traditional clinics are ideal for
  • 11:29patients admitted to the hospital,
  • 11:32it does not engage people with who use
  • 11:35drugs in the communities where they live.
  • 11:38So raising a concern about individuals who
  • 11:40may never interface with the hospital system,
  • 11:47emergency room settings again are great
  • 11:49place to to start initiate treatment.
  • 11:51If we talk about Glenorphine,
  • 11:54this was a study that was done
  • 11:56at Yale and it was done by Doctor
  • 12:00Tanofrio and Doctor Filene's group.
  • 12:03And they've looked at starting
  • 12:05Glenorphine in the Ed versus referring
  • 12:08a patient to outpatient care, right.
  • 12:10And patients are 78%.
  • 12:14There's a 78% chance of patients
  • 12:17connecting to outpatient treatment if
  • 12:19buprenorphine is started in the Ed
  • 12:21when they come in versus only 37% if
  • 12:25they're just referred to treatment.
  • 12:30So emergency room setting is a focus
  • 12:32for starting addiction treatments.
  • 12:33As many individuals interface with
  • 12:36medical care in this setting,
  • 12:39it provides a unique opportunity
  • 12:41to start evidence based treatment
  • 12:44and connecting to the community.
  • 12:46Studies have shown that Ed initiated as
  • 12:48we discussed Ed initiated buprenorphine
  • 12:50improves healthcare outcomes.
  • 12:54But the initiation of buprenorphine
  • 12:56or any addiction treatment in the Ed
  • 12:58requires addressing many challenges and
  • 13:00one of the big thing is capacity building
  • 13:03and connecting with our patient teams.
  • 13:05It it involves educating the ER providers
  • 13:08as well as the community providers
  • 13:10and partnering with programs so that
  • 13:13they could be referred to because they
  • 13:15can't just start buprenorphine and and
  • 13:17not have a facility to refer them to.
  • 13:21This was another study that was
  • 13:25done in that looked at primary
  • 13:27care buprenorphine initiation and
  • 13:29taper versus maintenance treatment
  • 13:31and what it showed is that with
  • 13:34with some medication management
  • 13:39buprenorphine treatment can be provided
  • 13:40in primary care settings without
  • 13:42elaborate counseling and stuff like that.
  • 13:48I was involved with doctor Jennifer
  • 13:52Edelman and Doctor Filene's group in in
  • 13:56doing a randomized in doing a clinical
  • 14:00trial on implementation facilitation
  • 14:02involving four large HIV clinics
  • 14:05in the Northeast US, one at Brown,
  • 14:07one in New York and and two in Connecticut.
  • 14:10And what we have seen is that by a practice
  • 14:16facilitation implementation facilitation,
  • 14:18we can change the preferences of
  • 14:22people in prescribing buprenorphine.
  • 14:25He initially folks wanted to prefer
  • 14:29patients outside for treatment,
  • 14:31but as the study went on
  • 14:33by the maintenance phase,
  • 14:34they were willing to actually prefer to
  • 14:37provide treatment with within their centers.
  • 14:44Looking at Co occurring disorders,
  • 14:46psychiatric and substance use disorders,
  • 14:49we know we we see this all the time.
  • 14:51We know that the relationship
  • 14:53between psychiatric and substance
  • 14:55use disorders is complex.
  • 14:56There's bidirectional causality,
  • 14:58shared genetic risk factors,
  • 15:01they share vulnerabilities and you
  • 15:04know clinical course and treatment
  • 15:06challenges are very similar.
  • 15:09Patients may be self medicating
  • 15:11themselves to deal with the adverse
  • 15:13effects of psychotropic medications.
  • 15:14We know our patients with schizophrenia,
  • 15:16we smoke more cigarettes
  • 15:18than general population
  • 15:23and it could be a a way for of of
  • 15:26social acceptance for for those with
  • 15:28mental illness who are more isolated
  • 15:30to belong to a group of people,
  • 15:32Let's say some people who are using
  • 15:34cannabis or something like that.
  • 15:36Looking at the National Comorbidity Survey,
  • 15:40over 50% of those with psychiatric
  • 15:44conditions have substance use disorders
  • 15:46and over 50% of those with substance use
  • 15:49disorders have psychiatric diagnosis.
  • 15:56This was based on the NSDUH data.
  • 15:59There's about 17 million people with
  • 16:01any mental illness and substance use
  • 16:04disorders together, and about 5.7
  • 16:06million people with substance use,
  • 16:08desires and serious mental illness.
  • 16:12Despite this,
  • 16:16only 5.7%, as we discussed with any
  • 16:19mental illness and substance use Disorder
  • 16:21received treatment for both and 9.3%.
  • 16:24So close to one in 10 people with serious
  • 16:27mental illness and substance use disorder
  • 16:30received treatment for both conditions.
  • 16:36Those with comorbid substance use disorders
  • 16:39and psychiatric conditions have severe,
  • 16:41more severe symptoms, poor outcomes.
  • 16:43There's greater risk of homelessness.
  • 16:46There's greater involvement with law,
  • 16:47law enforcement and this higher utilization,
  • 16:51healthcare utilization costs,
  • 16:53higher mortality and morbidity.
  • 16:57And the treatments have
  • 16:59been traditionally siloed,
  • 17:01which have been the biggest
  • 17:04barrier for integrating care.
  • 17:07We've published an op-ed with
  • 17:09Doctor Petrarchus and Dr. Edens.
  • 17:13This was in 2018 and we talked about
  • 17:15what role should psychiatrists have
  • 17:18in responding to the opioid epidemic.
  • 17:21In summary, we call triple AP and
  • 17:22ask this about how many addiction
  • 17:24psychiatrists are there in the country.
  • 17:25They said around 1100,
  • 17:29we're talking about 25% of our
  • 17:32population using drugs and we have 1100
  • 17:34addiction psychiatrists in this country.
  • 17:36And as a field,
  • 17:38we are looking to the addiction
  • 17:40psychiatrist to provide treatment.
  • 17:42If this was CHF or or or or
  • 17:46some other medical condition,
  • 17:49that would be totally unacceptable.
  • 17:53The significant comorbidity as
  • 17:54we discussed anxiety, depression,
  • 17:56ADHD, psychosis and suicide.
  • 17:59A national survey of psychiatrist
  • 18:02indicates that more than 80% were
  • 18:05uncomfortable with providing office
  • 18:07based burpanorphine treatment.
  • 18:09There was shift of burpanorphine
  • 18:11prescribing to primary care psychiatrist.
  • 18:14We're prescribing 90 moreover 90% of Open
  • 18:18North in 2003 that fell to 32.8% in 2013.
  • 18:25We are skilled, we are knowledgeable,
  • 18:27we've and we are prepared
  • 18:31to treat the condition.
  • 18:32So we have to embrace,
  • 18:34we have to take a leap forward to
  • 18:37embrace addiction treatments and
  • 18:38integrate them into our practices.
  • 18:41This was a recent publication
  • 18:44that looked at buprenorphine
  • 18:47fills by prescribing clinicians.
  • 18:49And if you look at psychiatry as a field,
  • 18:54we have plateau and our buprenorphine
  • 18:57prescribing hasn't increased
  • 18:59from 2003 to 2021,
  • 19:01whereas other medical specialities
  • 19:04have embraced it and they've
  • 19:06owned it and then they've started
  • 19:08treating addiction better.
  • 19:14So there's many challenges
  • 19:17and facilitators to.
  • 19:19So this was a study that I was
  • 19:21looking at national database.
  • 19:23This was actually done by
  • 19:26Health and Human Secretary
  • 19:28Assistance Secretary's office.
  • 19:29So this was the study by the government
  • 19:31looking at insurance databases
  • 19:32and and looking at booking off in
  • 19:35prescriptions based on the field.
  • 19:42You know our our patients see
  • 19:43us as primary care physicians.
  • 19:45They don't go anywhere else,
  • 19:46they don't go to see primary care physicians.
  • 19:48We we are the primary providers for
  • 19:50our patients and they come to us and
  • 19:53they don't talk about substance use.
  • 19:55For us to integrate this treatment into
  • 19:57our practices, it's cost effective
  • 20:00and improves treatment outcomes.
  • 20:02Our mental health providers are under
  • 20:04prepared to treat substance use disorders.
  • 20:07We have limited resources.
  • 20:08I, I, yeah, again, I'm,
  • 20:10I'm so stick to what psychiatrists do.
  • 20:12They're very busy.
  • 20:14They're under resource
  • 20:17what patients tell us.
  • 20:19We want you to treat for both conditions.
  • 20:21We want you you you are our
  • 20:23primary care physicians.
  • 20:24We want you to treat us.
  • 20:26But there's a lot of stigma and the
  • 20:28stigma is just not with our psychiatry
  • 20:30providers but also patients have a
  • 20:31lot of stigma and asking for help.
  • 20:35And there's so many things we
  • 20:37could do from prevention services
  • 20:39to screening and interventions
  • 20:41to medications to harm reduction.
  • 20:44We could take up a
  • 20:46multidisciplinary approach,
  • 20:47involve pharmacists and clinic social
  • 20:51workers and other clinicians into
  • 20:53this focus on preventing infections,
  • 20:55focus on long term care,
  • 20:57recovery supports and cognitive
  • 20:59care with other agencies as well.
  • 21:03This is how we are looking at the
  • 21:05problem is keeping the onus on the
  • 21:08patient and asking them to change.
  • 21:10That has to change and we have to take
  • 21:13a much more interfered approach into
  • 21:15professional approach and we have to
  • 21:18have a much more diverse workforce
  • 21:20to represent who we are treating
  • 21:23and be able to treat our patients.
  • 21:28So what we know is that if we
  • 21:31provide education early on at
  • 21:33the to the medical students,
  • 21:34to the residents,
  • 21:36they're more likely to change
  • 21:38and it is much more difficult
  • 21:40to train established physicians
  • 21:42and other clinicians who've been
  • 21:45practicing for a while.
  • 21:47But we have to provide education
  • 21:49at every level at the medical
  • 21:51student education level,
  • 21:52the graduated medical education
  • 21:54level and at the healthcare
  • 21:56professional education level.
  • 22:04I'm going to talk about some of the
  • 22:07work I did with with many others
  • 22:10in in in providing and improving
  • 22:13education in this in this area as
  • 22:17a result of the gap and the issues
  • 22:19surrounding the prescription opioid
  • 22:20use and provider or prescribing.
  • 22:22In 2016, there was a call from
  • 22:25Office of National Drug Counts
  • 22:27Control and Policy asking US medical
  • 22:30schools to take a pledge to improve
  • 22:33education in chronic pain management
  • 22:36and opioid prescribing
  • 22:39yields. One of the 61 schools who did not
  • 22:44sign the pledge and in fact they took over.
  • 22:48So that we we're just not going to
  • 22:50sign a mere pledge but we we are going
  • 22:52to improve how we provide medical
  • 22:55education in in in opioid prescribing
  • 22:57and addiction treatment to our students.
  • 23:02So we got a doctor Prakas and Dr.
  • 23:06O'Connor got a call from Doctor Schwartz
  • 23:10in the office of education and I am
  • 23:13Doctor Tetra from addiction medicine.
  • 23:16We Co chaired the committee that
  • 23:19overhauled the along with providers
  • 23:22from Pediatrics emergency medicine
  • 23:26students that overhaul the addiction
  • 23:28education in in the medical school and
  • 23:32we were able to establish an addiction
  • 23:34thread that runs through all four
  • 23:36years of the medical school training.
  • 23:44I'm I'm privileged to be a part of the
  • 23:47department which prioritizes addiction
  • 23:49education and and the division of
  • 23:53addiction which has great teachers
  • 23:54and we were able to incorporate
  • 23:57addiction education into every year of
  • 24:00of the psychiatry residency training.
  • 24:02Starting with a preliminary course
  • 24:04to introduce folks to substance use
  • 24:06disorder treatment to a six weeks
  • 24:10addiction psychiatry rotation,
  • 24:11to a core addiction seminar in
  • 24:14the third year and providing A
  • 24:17longitudinal experience by offering
  • 24:19electives in in PG by 4.
  • 24:22Mind you, the requirement,
  • 24:24still a CGME requirement,
  • 24:26is just a one month of inpatient addiction
  • 24:28experience for residency training which
  • 24:30which is not going to help at all.
  • 24:35And just to mention about the fellowship,
  • 24:39we train 10 fellows each year and you know
  • 24:46we've we have different tracks at the VA,
  • 24:48at the APP Foundation and a track,
  • 24:52a new community track at CMSC.
  • 24:55And we've been able to train
  • 24:59hundreds of addiction psychiatrists.
  • 25:01And and looking at the
  • 25:03mission of of the fellowship,
  • 25:05it is just not to train another
  • 25:07addiction like a psychiatrist is going
  • 25:08to see patients which is important,
  • 25:10but also those who will develop
  • 25:14programs and they've done that
  • 25:16nationally and internationally.
  • 25:17After they left the fellowship,
  • 25:20I'll focus on the HERSA track.
  • 25:23We received funding Dr.
  • 25:25Petrarchus and Dr.
  • 25:26Tetra or PIS for that through through HERSA,
  • 25:32which is Health Resources service
  • 25:35Administration to increase
  • 25:36our numbers in the fellowship.
  • 25:38So we've gotten 2 addiction psychiatry
  • 25:40fellows each year and that was
  • 25:43very instrumental in what Doctor
  • 25:44Jagged is going to talk about.
  • 25:46In establishing the Medication
  • 25:47for Addiction Treatment clinic,
  • 25:51we've done some global health work.
  • 25:52This was a collaboration
  • 25:55between Yale School of Medicine,
  • 25:57Yale School of Public Health
  • 25:59and University of Jordan.
  • 26:01And we have been able to collaborate
  • 26:04with the School of Pharmacy and
  • 26:06and medical school there in
  • 26:08establishing a giant training
  • 26:09program for addiction education.
  • 26:13I'll talk a little bit about my
  • 26:15work that we were able to do with
  • 26:18Connecticut Department of Mental Health
  • 26:21and Addiction Services in improving
  • 26:23addiction care across the state.
  • 26:26This started off in 2016 with Doctor
  • 26:28Schadenfeld who was here and we started
  • 26:31off doing this work right before he left.
  • 26:35And Dimas received the
  • 26:37Samsung grant to improve
  • 26:42opioid prescribe, buprenorphine
  • 26:44prescribing in outpatient
  • 26:46treatment programs particularly.
  • 26:48And we focused on 4 high risk
  • 26:51areas which had the highest
  • 26:52overdose rates at that time.
  • 26:57This one is the Wheeler Clinic in New
  • 26:59in Plainville, CMHA in New Britain,
  • 27:03May Call Center in Torrington and
  • 27:05Community Health Resources in Wyndham.
  • 27:08And this later expanded to involve all
  • 27:10local mental health agencies in Connecticut.
  • 27:15And I've been doing this work since 2016.
  • 27:19It's been 80 years now and it
  • 27:22was well received and it involves
  • 27:25consultation and practice facilitation.
  • 27:30Initially we went to treatment programs,
  • 27:34did evaluation and needs assessments.
  • 27:36We met with stakeholders including providers
  • 27:39and leadership at these facilities.
  • 27:42We did practice facilitation which is a
  • 27:46multi competent implementation strategy
  • 27:48used to improve the capacity for practices.
  • 27:53Well, we did academic detailing.
  • 27:54You see these medical representatives
  • 27:56coming in with brochures and pamphlets,
  • 28:00but if we do that with evidence based
  • 28:03practices and to educate the providers
  • 28:05in these facilities of of improving their
  • 28:08capacity to provide opioid use disorder
  • 28:10treatment and other addiction treatment,
  • 28:13we've started learning
  • 28:14collaborators across the state.
  • 28:15These are group learning sessions
  • 28:19primarily aimed at sharing best
  • 28:21practices amongst latest local mental
  • 28:24health agencies in Connecticut.
  • 28:26There's many educational sessions
  • 28:27that we organized including
  • 28:29lectures and case conferences and
  • 28:31I also along with Doctor Jaggeday,
  • 28:33we do many curbside consultations and
  • 28:36mentoring for providers across the state.
  • 28:38Well, this led to this situation
  • 28:42now where all local mental health
  • 28:46agencies provide integrated addiction
  • 28:48treatment and all of them prescribe
  • 28:50open morphine across the state,
  • 28:53some more than the other.
  • 28:54And I really want to thank Dimas leadership,
  • 28:58the Commissioner and Dr.
  • 29:00DK and others for providing
  • 29:02opening the doors and providing
  • 29:04us the opportunity to do so.
  • 29:06This is an example of a Co occurring desires
  • 29:09conference that we do every two weeks.
  • 29:12So any local mental health agency
  • 29:15can submit this form to us and
  • 29:17we meet with the leadership,
  • 29:19the the staff and the providers and
  • 29:24sometimes even the patient to do
  • 29:26a consult where we discuss what's
  • 29:27going on with the patient and how to
  • 29:30integrate substance use treatment with
  • 29:31their psychiatric care and their practice.
  • 29:36This is a sample agenda for
  • 29:39a learning collaborative.
  • 29:40We start off with any updates
  • 29:43on all those data in the state,
  • 29:46any new campaigns in the state.
  • 29:48We have best practices that
  • 29:51each clinic discusses.
  • 29:52We talked about any new
  • 29:54guidelines that came came through.
  • 29:55But also we have people who are
  • 29:57experts in the field come and talk
  • 29:59to the providers in the state.
  • 30:00And in this case it was Doctor Regan
  • 30:02who was talking about pain management
  • 30:03for individuals with opioid use desire.
  • 30:10So we've, I've talked about the work we've
  • 30:12done across the state of Connecticut
  • 30:14and Doctor Jaggedy is going to come
  • 30:16and talk about what we did at CMFC.
  • 30:19It's basically incorporating all
  • 30:22those principles that we have used in
  • 30:25state to start a new program and even
  • 30:27innovative new unique program at CMXCI.
  • 30:30Do want to give a shout out
  • 30:31to Doctor Rihanna Jordan,
  • 30:32who was the first psychiatrist
  • 30:33and who initiated this program,
  • 30:35which Doctor Jaggedy was able
  • 30:37to expand much more.
  • 30:39And he's going to come and talk about,
  • 30:50thank you so much, Doctor Muvala for
  • 30:53being my own consultant and my mentor.
  • 30:58So today I'm going to be talking about
  • 31:00how we've operationalized some of what
  • 31:02Doctor Muvala was talking about at
  • 31:05our Connecticut Mental Health Center.
  • 31:07Over the next 20 minutes or so,
  • 31:09I talked about the conceptualization,
  • 31:11formation, composition,
  • 31:12function and structure of the Medication for
  • 31:16Addition addiction treatment clinic at CMAC.
  • 31:20And I also talked about a preliminary
  • 31:22data that is what's part of
  • 31:25our work that is still ongoing.
  • 31:28In last year 2023,
  • 31:31everyone in the field got very excited when
  • 31:34the X waiver was really abolished by the DEA.
  • 31:38But to be honest with you,
  • 31:39this was just a beginning of
  • 31:44of of the this is more,
  • 31:46there's there's so much more
  • 31:47to just removing the X waiver.
  • 31:50So I was wondering what were the barriers
  • 31:53to prescribing Grouponorphine before
  • 31:55the X waiver was removed and after?
  • 31:57And a common thread I found was that
  • 32:01before the removal of the X waiver,
  • 32:02this is a study by Holly Lanham
  • 32:05and colleagues,
  • 32:05they found that prescribers
  • 32:10wanted support, prescribers want to support,
  • 32:13prescribers wanted mentorship
  • 32:17by addiction professionals,
  • 32:20addiction trained specialists.
  • 32:22And this is one of the main barriers that
  • 32:25was also reported after the X was removed.
  • 32:28This is a study by Christopher Jones
  • 32:31and colleagues and they also had the
  • 32:34same situation where prescribers talked
  • 32:36about how although they were X waiver,
  • 32:39although they didn't need X waivers anymore,
  • 32:42they still needed prescriber,
  • 32:44They still needed addiction professionals,
  • 32:47addiction trained people,
  • 32:51consultants to consult with.
  • 32:56So like I said, I'm going to talk about
  • 32:58how we've tried to operationalize this,
  • 33:00how we try to do this at the CMAC.
  • 33:02You may know that the CMAC is the oldest,
  • 33:05one of the oldest community mental
  • 33:06health centers in the United States,
  • 33:08founded in 1966 with an enduring
  • 33:11collaboration with the Connecticut State
  • 33:13Developmental Health and Addiction Services
  • 33:16and the development psychiatry at Yale.
  • 33:19One of those areas,
  • 33:20the unique areas of collaboration is the
  • 33:23provision of physician staffing through
  • 33:25Yale and other CMS employees through Dimas.
  • 33:29We provide a recovery oriented
  • 33:31mental health care for over 4000
  • 33:34patients every year and we cite as
  • 33:37the hub for trainees in psychiatry,
  • 33:40primary care psychology, nursing,
  • 33:41social work and chaplaincy.
  • 33:43Now having said all that,
  • 33:45we also have a satellite clinic
  • 33:48that's the substance use treatment
  • 33:50unit or otherwise well before called
  • 33:53substance abuse training unit where
  • 33:55Doctor Muvala is the director.
  • 33:57So patients with addiction,
  • 33:59with addiction and substance use disorders,
  • 34:01that is CMHC you know referred to SATU.
  • 34:05You know SATU like I said is a part
  • 34:09of CMHC providing addiction care
  • 34:11for the greater New Haven area,
  • 34:13state-of-the-art services,
  • 34:14evaluation and treatment of our
  • 34:16common substance use disorders,
  • 34:18comprehensive addiction,
  • 34:19psychiatric care,
  • 34:20multitudes in your approach to
  • 34:22addictions education and really
  • 34:24state of the earth research.
  • 34:26However, just thinking about this,
  • 34:28I've talked about two barriers
  • 34:30that have found the foundation
  • 34:32of what we did in at CMHC.
  • 34:34One is I said earlier,
  • 34:36professionals people were ex
  • 34:38wavered who were poised to prescribe
  • 34:40butenorphine but don't have the support,
  • 34:43#2 is just the the distance
  • 34:46from the CMAC to Sachin.
  • 34:49It's another barrier that
  • 34:50we needed to overcome.
  • 34:51So what we then did was not only Co locate
  • 34:56an addiction treatment at 34 Park St.
  • 34:59where CMAC is,
  • 35:01but actually integrated treatment
  • 35:03like a patient is sitting across you.
  • 35:05You're not just going to refer the patient.
  • 35:07The goal we have is that you
  • 35:10actually begin to treat the patient.
  • 35:12So like I said,
  • 35:14before the initiation of the
  • 35:15MET consultation service,
  • 35:17patient had to be referred to Satchu.
  • 35:19This was suboptimal and given the
  • 35:21additional barriers that many of our
  • 35:24patients have social vulnerabilities,
  • 35:25it was just better for us to
  • 35:28eliminate those barriers and bring
  • 35:29the treatment to the patient.
  • 35:33And Doctor Mughala mentioned this
  • 35:35earlier is the MAT Consultation
  • 35:38service actually was mirrored after
  • 35:42the known well researched Inpatient
  • 35:46addiction Consultation service.
  • 35:47This is ambulatory based and will
  • 35:50begin to fill the gap of addiction
  • 35:53services within the very highly evolved
  • 35:55mental health system like CMAC.
  • 35:59Just to give you an idea
  • 36:00of what we're talking about,
  • 36:03this is by no means official,
  • 36:05but it gives you an idea of how the
  • 36:08CMH is set up and how we're fitting
  • 36:10to an already existing system.
  • 36:13Like I said, the Department of Psychiatry
  • 36:15at Yale and the DMS came together to
  • 36:18fund CMHC with the grant the House
  • 36:21of Grants Supported supporting the
  • 36:23Addiction Fellowship and the MET
  • 36:25service well located in the Clinical
  • 36:27Intervention Clinic of the CMAC.
  • 36:29One of the challenges we had was how
  • 36:32to bring in the system, you know,
  • 36:35a service without disrupting
  • 36:37an already well oiled system.
  • 36:39Now as you can see here,
  • 36:43the Clinical Intervention Clinic
  • 36:45was already providing some
  • 36:48consultation services within CMAC.
  • 36:50So it made sense for us to locate
  • 36:53the new service within an already
  • 36:56consultation based service and
  • 36:58you know leveraging the staff,
  • 37:01leveraging the resources.
  • 37:05Now where do we get most
  • 37:06of our consultations from?
  • 37:07They're outpatient teams and
  • 37:09outpatient programs within CMEC.
  • 37:11We get most of our consultations from
  • 37:14the outpatient service from inpatient
  • 37:18and even acute services or MCI with
  • 37:21the Mobile Crisis Intervention Unit.
  • 37:25How about a clinical structure And our teams,
  • 37:28the core staff of the MET clinic was drawn
  • 37:31from the MCI because we're leveraging.
  • 37:33Again, we're leveraging the fact
  • 37:35that staff of the MCI are already
  • 37:38providing some consultation,
  • 37:39one addiction psychiatrist 0.2 FTE or
  • 37:43two addiction psychiatrist 0.1 FTE each.
  • 37:47What certification is addiction
  • 37:49psychiatry or addiction medicine?
  • 37:51One stop nurse which is a 0.2 FT Now I
  • 37:54want to give a shout out to Demas here
  • 37:57because this is actually Demas nurse.
  • 37:59It's like she works at the MCI and
  • 38:02Double S as also the MET clinic nurse.
  • 38:06Talk about, you know, doing more with less.
  • 38:10We now have through the Hassa Grant
  • 38:13and the Department of Psychiatry one
  • 38:16to two addiction psychiatry fellows
  • 38:18who give us 0.1 FTE of their time.
  • 38:21And then as soon as we rolled
  • 38:25out our service became very,
  • 38:26very much attractive to trainees.
  • 38:28And now we have trainees or medical students,
  • 38:33addiction Psychiatric fellows,
  • 38:34even APR and students.
  • 38:40What are some of the objectives of our
  • 38:43MAT consultation clinic to bridge the
  • 38:45gap in the treatment of individuals,
  • 38:47severe mental illness and
  • 38:48substance use disorders?
  • 38:49We are like a bridge clinic but not in the
  • 38:51traditional sense of the bridge clinic.
  • 38:53We're bridging between the
  • 38:55provider and the patient.
  • 38:57And I want to tell you more about
  • 38:58this in a minute is we we take
  • 39:00care of the patient up until
  • 39:02they're stable and then we refer
  • 39:04the patient back to the provider.
  • 39:06So we can take more and
  • 39:10to provide support for physicians
  • 39:11and clinician who may not be
  • 39:14comfortable with or who lacks
  • 39:15the expertise to treat SU DS.
  • 39:17However, our main point like I
  • 39:18said is not just to Co locate.
  • 39:20The program is actually to integrate
  • 39:23the system to integrated treatment so
  • 39:25that the physicians and the clinicians
  • 39:28are actually treating the patients.
  • 39:31And then we want to create
  • 39:32a low barrier system for addiction
  • 39:35treatment using harm reduction model.
  • 39:37We want to foster an Ave.
  • 39:39for patients who may be pre
  • 39:41contemplative about seeking treatment
  • 39:43or who may want information on how
  • 39:45to optimize safety during drug use.
  • 39:48When you come into the clinic,
  • 39:50it doesn't matter what time of the day it is,
  • 39:52There's an addiction psychiatrist
  • 39:53who's willing to talk to you and
  • 39:55that is the point we're making here.
  • 39:56Low barrier system, no door is closed.
  • 39:59Whether we start to or through HCM and C,
  • 40:02we're seeing the patients.
  • 40:05So some of our activities
  • 40:07include academic detailing.
  • 40:09We don't wait for consultations to happen.
  • 40:12We take the consultation to the providers.
  • 40:14You know how you know farmer.
  • 40:16People with farmer come to you
  • 40:18to tell you about medications.
  • 40:19We also go to our colleagues and tell them
  • 40:21about what is doing addictions and xylazine,
  • 40:24what is it, you know,
  • 40:25local data and how to properly
  • 40:28treat the patients.
  • 40:29We provide addiction specific
  • 40:31assessments and evaluation and
  • 40:34comprehensive addiction treatments.
  • 40:36Not only MHC,
  • 40:37we have harm reduction,
  • 40:40motivational interviewing and contingency
  • 40:43management and also education
  • 40:45and training monthly center wide
  • 40:48addiction service addiction seminars,
  • 40:50Yale medical student rotation and physician
  • 40:53and psychiatry residence education.
  • 40:59So how does the consultation work?
  • 41:01Just very briefly,
  • 41:03the referring clinic evaluates
  • 41:05the patient and then we determine
  • 41:09are they able to take care of the
  • 41:10patient or would they want me,
  • 41:12the physician to consult with them.
  • 41:15And based on
  • 41:18based on this four quadrants model,
  • 41:20we're able to determine who is it,
  • 41:24you know that we want to come to the clinic,
  • 41:28the MET clinic in person or who would
  • 41:31be more beneficial for us to just
  • 41:33have a curbside with a physician.
  • 41:36And this is based really on a level
  • 41:39of severity and not necessarily the
  • 41:42diagnosis of the patient to book.
  • 41:44Go back to my previous slide.
  • 41:45So if we determine that a
  • 41:47patient would come to the clinic,
  • 41:49we evaluate the patient,
  • 41:50we institute treatment and we continue
  • 41:52to stabilize the patient and at the
  • 41:54same time the patients that continues
  • 41:56to follow the primary physician
  • 41:58for their mental health needs.
  • 42:01After a while just in concordance
  • 42:05with the model of consultation,
  • 42:09the patient's referred back to the
  • 42:11clinician to continue addiction
  • 42:13treatments at some point.
  • 42:15In addition to that,
  • 42:16we continue ongoing collaboration
  • 42:18and cause curbside consultations.
  • 42:23We developed a very simple
  • 42:25referral form.
  • 42:26This can be filled in 30 seconds.
  • 42:28You know if we decide that the person
  • 42:30was going to come to the clinic,
  • 42:32you just give us the name,
  • 42:33the reason for referral or the
  • 42:35information referring team,
  • 42:36the referring Dr.
  • 42:37and the clinician.
  • 42:38And we empowered the clinician to
  • 42:40make the referral in consultation
  • 42:43with the primary doctor.
  • 42:48Education is part of one of the strongest
  • 42:50things that we do and I'm happy to
  • 42:53announce that even the local colleges,
  • 42:55Southern Connecticut College,
  • 42:57Gateway College, Yale,
  • 42:59New Haven Hospital staff have attended some
  • 43:02of these our monthly center wide seminars.
  • 43:05We have topics ranging from
  • 43:08strengthening systems of care for
  • 43:10people with SU DS in the community,
  • 43:13opioid overdose deaths,
  • 43:14cocaine use disorder, harm reduction,
  • 43:17terminological preferences
  • 43:18and language using addictions,
  • 43:21medical complication of SU DS,
  • 43:23cannabis, alcohol,
  • 43:24health inequities and even emergent
  • 43:26medical drugs in the community.
  • 43:32One of our fellows did this for just what
  • 43:36part of our community responsiveness
  • 43:38during the Fentanyl epidemic which
  • 43:40still ongoing and this is one of the
  • 43:43fires that was developed and we give
  • 43:44this to patients in the community.
  • 43:49Part of what some of what we do a
  • 43:51couple of just a couple of days
  • 43:54ago we had a community fair where
  • 43:56I went with some of the fellows.
  • 43:58These are Doctor Kelly Park, Dr.
  • 44:02Crystal Lo Biozo, Dr.
  • 44:03Terrence to mentor.
  • 44:05We attended this community fair
  • 44:07where we discussed addictions
  • 44:09and we discussed harm reduction.
  • 44:15And then I also, because we now have like
  • 44:18a real cohort of trainees who want to
  • 44:21benefit from what we do at the MEC clinic,
  • 44:24we have a curriculum for them
  • 44:26addictions to captive fellows.
  • 44:27We have about 1:00 to 2:00 a year on
  • 44:29a PGY threes and pgy fours the same
  • 44:32number and up to we have a Yale medical
  • 44:35student rotate with us every six weeks.
  • 44:40But we've had challenges in implementation.
  • 44:44Our first challenge was actually
  • 44:46how to create a system that
  • 44:49integrates seamlessly into an
  • 44:51existing structure without causing
  • 44:53so much disruption, if you will.
  • 44:57We've been able to do this,
  • 44:58however, with the support of CMHC,
  • 45:01the support of the administration.
  • 45:05We built capacity over time
  • 45:07through staff education.
  • 45:08It took time for buying from
  • 45:11clinician administration,
  • 45:12but this was done over time.
  • 45:15So one of the challenges we've also had
  • 45:18is infidelity with the consultation model.
  • 45:22Many, many patients don't
  • 45:23want to leave the clinic.
  • 45:25They want to stay with us, you know,
  • 45:27while they continue to follow
  • 45:28with their primary clinicians.
  • 45:29However, if we continue to do this,
  • 45:32we won't have capacity to go on.
  • 45:33So what we enforce, what we try to
  • 45:36enforce is we get the patient stabilized,
  • 45:39we send them back to the clinicians so
  • 45:41we can get more room for more patients.
  • 45:45A good problem that we've had is being
  • 45:48limited speeds accommodate trainees.
  • 45:49How many trainees want to rotate with us,
  • 45:52but we're trying to expand the
  • 45:54service also with sustainability.
  • 45:57We need addictions like character
  • 45:59fellows and we need the harsher funding
  • 46:02to continue Doctor Petrarchus so we can
  • 46:04continue to have them serve our community.
  • 46:10Over the two years of our
  • 46:12experience at the MSC clinic,
  • 46:14we published this paper with Doctor Muvala,
  • 46:18Doctor John Cahill,
  • 46:19Ryan Wade and Doctor Jordan just to describe
  • 46:22our experience at creating this clinic.
  • 46:25And this was very well received,
  • 46:30just some numbers.
  • 46:31Over the last two years we've seen about
  • 46:35over 1000 distinct clinical encounters,
  • 46:39thankfully zero reported overdose mortality.
  • 46:43Talking about the patients
  • 46:45who come through our clinic,
  • 46:47we get about two to three cup
  • 46:50sides every week and I was looking
  • 46:52at the numbers the other day,
  • 46:5457% of our patients have at least
  • 46:58three consecutive negative urines,
  • 47:00which is I leave you to judge that
  • 47:06as far as diagnosis, we have quite the
  • 47:09psychiatric burden in our patients.
  • 47:11More than 70, maybe 80% of our
  • 47:14patients have in the schizophrenia
  • 47:17spectrum and the same number have
  • 47:21opioids and stimulants are the primary
  • 47:25substance use disorder diagnosis.
  • 47:30Part of my academic interest
  • 47:32is really in around expanding
  • 47:35care disparities, you know,
  • 47:38social discernment of health,
  • 47:39structural determinations
  • 47:40and things of that sort.
  • 47:41And I find this graph very compelling.
  • 47:45This is from Puja Lagisetti 2019.
  • 47:48You would see from here that most
  • 47:51people who are minoritized and
  • 47:56who have public insurance don't
  • 48:00get prescribed Groupanorphine,
  • 48:02but we're trying to reverse that.
  • 48:04And I'm so pleased to show
  • 48:05you this next chart.
  • 48:10You can see most of our patients
  • 48:13are minorities, black and Hispanic.
  • 48:16Most of them are on Medicare and
  • 48:19Medicaid or no insurance at all.
  • 48:21So we're trying to reverse this.
  • 48:23We give it to the community and
  • 48:24we're on help us spread the work.
  • 48:26We're open for work.
  • 48:28If you have anyone, you know, OK,
  • 48:31whatever addictions they may have,
  • 48:33we're here to serve them.
  • 48:38So very briefly, I've told you
  • 48:40that we think we have a model
  • 48:43here that is a consultation model,
  • 48:45not in the hospital but in the
  • 48:48community mental Health Center with
  • 48:51fidelity to the concentration model.
  • 48:53We're trying to integrate our substance
  • 48:55restrictment into general psychiatric
  • 48:57setting and there are no wrong doors.
  • 49:00Whichever way the patient comes in,
  • 49:02they're going to interfere with
  • 49:04an addiction specialist providing
  • 49:05support for our psychiatric providers
  • 49:07who may not be willing or unable
  • 49:10to treat substance use disorders.
  • 49:11And we think that this model is
  • 49:14easily replicable and scalable.
  • 49:17And we do have some
  • 49:19ongoing projects going on.
  • 49:20Doctor Terrence Ambry,
  • 49:22PGY 3 is looking at providers
  • 49:25perspectives of our MHC consultation clinic.
  • 49:28Doctor Terrence Dementia is an
  • 49:30addictions of captive fellow.
  • 49:31He is currently working on the
  • 49:33Qi project and Doctor Anthony
  • 49:35Caldwell was one of our our fellows.
  • 49:37She's now the Gene Spurlock fellow in DC
  • 49:40She was working on education projects
  • 49:44on CM and I'm working on hopefully
  • 49:47expanding the clinic in the next few years.
  • 49:51I want to thank Doctor Jordan who.
  • 49:54This was a pet project this was Fission.
  • 49:57I'm so grateful to her and it's
  • 50:02she has two big shoes to fill.
  • 50:04So anyway that's Doctor Jordan
  • 50:06great with her.
  • 50:07Doctor John Cahill is the director of MCI.
  • 50:11We integrated within his clinic his
  • 50:14program and he's been very supported.
  • 50:17Dr. Fabiola Cruz and Jeremy Welles,
  • 50:20also addiction psychiatrist who work with me,
  • 50:23the MAP Clinic nurse Jennifer
  • 50:25Mastriano shout out to her.
  • 50:27She makes everything running.
  • 50:28She keeps the records.
  • 50:29She she does everything.
  • 50:31Our past fellows Ryan Wade, Fabiola,
  • 50:34Abila Cruz, Ebony Caldwell, Connie Chao,
  • 50:38current fellows Terence Dementa,
  • 50:40Olivetto, Radu and our other trainees.
  • 50:44I'll invite her to thank you.