Opioid recovery initiation: Pilot test of a peer outreach and modified Recovery Management Checkup intervention for out-of-treatment opioid users

The recent surge in opioid-related overdoses and related fatalities underscores the need for assertive mechanisms for linking individuals with opioid use disorders (OUD) to medication-assisted treatment (MAT). This pilot study investigated the feasibility of an intervention that used peer outreach workers to identify out-of-treatment individuals with OUD combined with a modified version of the Recovery Management Checkup to link individuals to methadone treatment. The study was conducted in high-risk communities in Chicago over 8 weeks; peer outreach workers identified 88 active opioid/heroin users; 72 were screened as eligible, and 70 showed to the study intake/initial linkage meeting. Most participants were male (73%) and African American (94%), with an average age of 52.0 (sd = 7.6). Nearly all (67/70, 96%) were admitted to methadone treatment; median time from initial linkage meeting to treatment admission was 2.6 days. Most were still in treatment at 30 and 60 days post-intake (69% and 70%, respectively). A high-risk sub-group was identified that had ever received naloxone for an opioid overdose; they had one third of the odds of being in treatment at 30 days post-intake compared with others. The intervention model holds promise as an assertive method for identifying and engaging individuals with OUD into treatment.