This Philadelphia hotline provides timely access to a range of harm reduction, treatment, and recovery services, including initiation of buprenorphine.
Medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) such as buprenorphine are the gold standard for treatment of opioid use disorder, but there are many barriers to their access. To increase their availability, a team at the Center for Addiction Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania initiated CareConnect, leveraging new regulatory flexibilities that allow for same day prescribing of buprenorphine via telephone. The program includes clinicians who provide OUD care and a substance use navigator team that assesses patients and links them to external OUD care programs based in primary care or specialty behavioral health.
No insurance is required to use CareConnect and callers can obtain information about the following services:
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Real time substance use navigation, connect to resources.
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Education and harm reduction support.
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Same-day buprenorphine initiation.
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Access to peer support.
The website provides contact information and links to external resources, including where to find fentanyl test strips and naloxone, assistance for pregnant individuals, and help with housing and food insecurity in the Philadelphia area. The program is described in this news release and this evaluation study.
CareConnect offers consistent same-day buprenorphine treatment access in Philadelphia, saving hundreds of visits to the emergency department and/or hundreds of people saved from going without any care at all.