A brief report on rapid access to medication assisted treatment

ABSTRACT

This report describes Rapid Access to Medication Assisted Therapy (RAM), an innovative, cross-system intervention, piloted in Central Vermont to address the opioid overdose epidemic, building on emergency department buprenorphine induction, and a Hub and Spoke delivery system. RAM utilizes transdisciplinary case coordination to facilitate integration among independent service providers and peer supports addressing the opioid overdose crisis in a rural area. Adopting a transdisciplinary process to guide interprofessional collaboration, RAM team members share professional duties across institutional and professional hierarchies and traditional roles. These shifts in professional orientation increase team capacity to provide care coordination and remove barriers to treatment. While care coordination traditionally rests in the social work domain, RAM distributes these tasks among members of each profession. RAM exemplifies the strength of transdisciplinary collaboration and highlights the leadership role social work can play in implementing systems navigation and care coordination.

KEYWORDS:

• Rural
• integrated healthcare
• opioid agonist therapy
• medications for opioid use disorder
• service coordination

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).