NEJM Catalyst: CareConnect: Adapting a Virtual Urgent Care Model to Provide Buprenorphine Transitional Care
Medications for opioid use disorder (OUD) such as buprenorphine are the gold standard for treatment of OUD, but patients face many barriers accessing these medications. To address this gap, a team at Penn Medicine created CareConnect, which leveraged new regulatory flexibilities during the COVID-19 pandemic that allow for virtual prescribing of buprenorphine. The program is enhanced by a substance use navigator team that assesses patients, supports patients and clinicians throughout a patient’s care journey, and links patients to longitudinal OUD care programs based in primary care or specialty behavioral health. CareConnect shows that buprenorphine telehealth prescribing can be adopted by generalist clinicians.