Substance Treatment and HIV Testing and Referral System

Completed · Phase 2

Conditions studied: Substance Abuse

In brief

The lack of substance screening and referral in healthcare settings is a significant problem with far-reaching consequences, including excess morbidity, premature mortality, and inflated healthcare costs. An easy to use, time-efficient referral system is needed to address this problem. The Substance Treatment Referral Systems (STaRS), a computer assisted screening and referral system, was developed to meet this need. STaRS Phase I demonstrated the feasibility of STaRS to meet this need. All aims and evaluation goals of the Phase I study were met or exceeded. The purpose of the Phase II research is to demonstrate the clinical utility and commercial viability of STaRS. Specific Aims of Phase II are: 1. Integrate STaRS with the Epic electronic health record used in the Cooper Health System in Camden, N.J. 2. Document STaRS' effectiveness in (a) increasing the number of referrals provided for substance abuse treatment and HIV screening, and (b) increasing the proportion of patients that initiate specialty treatment. 3. Evaluate clinician acceptance and impact upon revenue generation. The research will be conducted at Cooper Family Medicine (CFM) department of Cooper University Hospital in New Jersey. We will determine the rate of referrals and treatment initiation for 3,500 adult patients treated during treatment as usual (the time before STaRS is implemented at CFM) as well as 3,500 adult patients treated after the introduction of STaRS. Patients will be asked about the referral initiation process, and CFM healthcare providers will be asked to evaluate the system from a clinical and administrative prospective. Finally, billing records will be reviewed during the STaRS implementation to determine whether STaRS impacted revenue for the practices.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT01488630

Run by

Polaris Health Directions

People needed

60

Starts

2011-12-01

Expected to finish

2013-03-01

Last updated by the study team

2018-07-18

Who can join

Age: 18 and older. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: accepted.

You may qualify if…

• All English-speaking adult patients (>= 18 years old) who received a referral for substance abuse treatment or HIV/AIDS screening from Cooper Family Medicine practices during the study period, and who can be reached at a home telephone or have a monthly cell phone plan.

You may not qualify if…

• Patients < 18 years old and patients with poor English comprehension, or who do not have reliable telephone access (i.e., no phone access or buys minutes for a "disposable" cell phone)

Where it is running

• Cooper Family Medicine — Camden, New Jersey, United States

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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