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The MATch program connects medications for addiction treatment (MAT) provider champions with providers starting out in their care for patients with opioid use disorder, offering them the resources, tools and mentorship they need to feel supported in providing evidence-based addiction care.
Assuring equitable access to compassionate, evidence-based addiction care is critical in supporting our patients’ needs and addressing morbidity and mortality from substance use. Physicians and advanced practice providers should be prepared in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with substance use disorders, and their support staff should be knowledgeable in how to best support this care.
We are obliged to assure equitable access to MAT and other forms of comprehensive, evidence-based addiction care across the CommonSpirit Health (CSH) enterprise.
Providers need to be encouraged and supported in providing addiction care. This includes mentorship by clinical champions and support with tools and guidelines for providers and their staff who are starting out in providing MAT.
A MAT Champions (MATch) Mentorship Initiative will serve as a signature program of the Population Health Addiction Network, supported by the Addiction Treatment Access Group (ATAG).
The MAT Champions program, or “MATch”, will include longitudinal Mentorship, clinical Advisory, and evidence-based, high-value tools and guidelines:
Lognitudinal expert clinician coaching with a guided curriculum on provider, administrative, and community topics.
MAT/OUD critical advisory and connections with experts.
Evidence-based guidelines, resources, trainings, and tools.
A six months, longitudinal mentorship program will connect MAT champions and experts with mentees initiating, or thinking about initiating, MAT clinical care. Mentees may also be MAT and substance use disorder grant awardees/recipients. The mentoring-mentee relationship will be informed by validated mentorship guidelines (available here). Mentorship provides intellectual growth and development, clinical knowledge, comfort and acumen, professional development within the CSH system and Addiction Network community, academic guidance in relevant settings, skills development, and personal communication skills to address patient and administrative needs. Mentorship will also be informed by a suggested curricular structure or topic list, but mentor-mentee pairings may decide to use their time in other ways that meet the unique needs and/or questions of the mentee. The suggested curricular structure and subtopics are as follows:
a. Timely topics in OUD clinical careb. Best practices in MAT clinical carei. Identifying patientsii. Inductions and treatment initiationiii. Maintenance therapyc. Troubleshooting the challenges in MAT clinical carei. The “challenging” patient and treatment "failures"ii. Return to use/relapse
a. Building an interdisciplinary team to share responsibility
b. Documentation, billing and compliance
a. Identifying community resources
b. Partnerships with behavioral health
c. Engaging patients and people in recovery
This longitudinal mentorship program will be supported by CSH staff. Monthly, or more frequent, touchpoints between mentor-mentee will be encouraged. Participation in the monthly MAT/ALTO meeting will also be encouraged. Participants will receive a pre-program survey, followed by a post-intervention survey that will evaluate and track knowledge, skills/practice and attitudes>
Mentees will be matched to mentors along geographic and clinic characteristics: rural vs. urban practice, teaching vs. non-teaching site, large vs. small medical group, etc.
A group of MAT champions and experts, who may also serve as mentors, will be asked to participate as clinical advisors during the monthly MAT/ALTO meetings. Their expertise will also inform the creation and collection of tools and guidelines. This group may eventually serve a role in a future CSH Project ECHO style regular case conference on patients with substance use disorders.
Evidence-based and high-value tools, guidelines and resources will be created (when new material is needed or require alignment with CSH policies and/or branding) and collected, informed by the clinical advisory group and approved by the MAT/ALTO group. These tools will be hosted on the CSH Population Heath Connect website. Resources may include the following:
Population Health leadership (executive sponsor, Dr. Alisahah Cole)
Physician Enterprise leadership (executive sponsor, Dr. Gary Greensweig)
MAT/ALTO group
MAT champions/mentors
MAT frontline providers / mentees (waivered providers, grant recipients, providers with interest)
Initiative implementation will be managed by the CSH Population Health Innovation & Policy team with clinical guidance from Dr. Julian Mitton and strategic guidance from Nisha Pasupuleti.
Key stakeholders will be engaged March 2021, with a plan to invite mentees and launch initial activities starting April 2021.
Activities will run for an initial six months through October 2021, at which point an internal review will evaluate success and consider future direction.