ABSTRACT
Background and objectives
Contingency management (CM) for substance use disorders (SUD) is effective in strengthening recovery behaviors, however can be quite burdensome. When health facilities experience staff shortages, adapting current CM protocols to be less staff and time intensive may be one way to address this challenge.
Methods
Case series (N = 3).
Results
Three veterans with opioid use disorder (OUD) received CM for treatment adherence through a Veteran Health Administration Outpatient Substance Disorder program. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, traditional CM procedures resulted in limited accessibility and staff, delayed appointments, and decreased patient satisfaction. In response, the hybrid telehealth contingency management (HTCM) procedure was developed and implemented. Flexibility offered by HTCM allowed for consecutive completion of appointments and maintained adherence to BUP-XR treatment.
Conclusions
This is a novel method of CM implementation. HTCM streamlined the process and was successful in increasing accessibility, reducing time-burden on patients and staff, while preserving fidelity to key components of the model. Considerations for future implementation and implications of HTCM are discussed.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank James R. McKay, Ph. D for his expertise and assistance in revising the manuscript.
Disclosure statement
The contents do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs or the United States Government.
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Ethics approval
The current project was reviewed by the local Institutional Review Board and received exempt status. This study was an analysis of preexisting data and did not use human subjects.
Supplementary material
Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/14659891.2024.2351019