In the shadow of Ohio’s opioid epidemic, The ROSCAPP Consortium (the “Consortium”) implemented efforts coalesced around a goal of finding the most effective process for connecting individuals with appropriate services as quickly as possible. To accomplish this goal, the Consortium would first need to overcome long-standing barriers.
COMMONLY CITED BARRIERS
Determining the appropriate type of treatment and setting, and whether a patient meets a particular treatment provider’s admission criteria;
Determining a treatment provider’s capacity and availability requiring multiple attempts to contact providers and delaying referrals by hours and sometimes days; and,
Communication difficulties between the referring entity and the treatment provider, causing increased wait times and decreasing a patient’s likelihood of successful admission to a treatment program.
To mitigate these barriers, Cognitians partnered with venture Studio AricoLabs and service providers Omni Wellness Group and Delaney Centers to form the Consortium in 2021 to launch a digital referral system known as My Opioid Recovery (“MORE”). The Consortium designed MORE to expedite client referral and admission to substance use disorder programs by eliminating the manual processes that had previously caused delays.
The MORE application facilitates rapid digital referrals and fosters collaboration among substance use disorder service providers. Frustrated by the inefficient manual processes required to refer patients to appropriate specialized treatment programs, the Consortium created MORE.
The Consortium’s data scientists reviews data from MORE deployments, including network utilization, referral patterns, and patient referral attributes. The data is expected to ultimately point to a statewide increase in referrals to treatment and reduced referral times.
NETWORK GROWTH AND UTILIZATION
It is not uncommon for a referral to a substance use disorder treatment program to involve phone calls, emails and even faxes at times. This confusing and time-intensive process results in patients falling through the cracks. The Consortium is in the process of executing outreach efforts to providers to encourage their participation in the MORE program, which includes offering technical assistance to service providers throughout the onboarding process. These efforts are designed to result in the successful and widespread adoption of MORE.
FUTURE CONSIDERATIONS
For clinical staff, social workers, administrators, peers, and countless others who serve individuals with substance use disorder, MORE is designed to alleviate a significant administrative burden that takes time away from patients. MORE is constantly evolving, and the lessons learned since deployment have been invaluable in refining, enhancing, and improving this tool in Ohio’s battle against the opioid epidemic.
Ongoing enhancements to MORE include deeper integrations with electronic medical records; the launch of a public-facing portal; refinement of communication processes with the introduction of a care coordination referral platform; implementation of a closed-loop function for providers to locate and refer no-show patients back to treatment; improvement in the quality of treatment referrals; and enrollment of additional providers.