People with opioid use disorder (OUD) are at increased risk of contracting the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). While there are effective interventions that can significantly reduce the incidence of HIV and opioid overdose, such as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD), many patients still face barriers to accessing and staying in care.
At Boston Medical Center (BMC), Alyssa Tilhou, MD, PhD, vice president of research in family medicine, is working to change that through a new care delivery platform designed to facilitate access to and retention of evidence-based treatment.
Based on her experience as a specialist in addiction medicine, Dr. Tilhou, Leveraging Informatics for Navigation and Knowledge (LINK), uses electronic health record (EHR) data combined with both real-time patient outreach and clinician support to ensure that all patients are given the opportunity to benefit from comprehensive addiction care and HIV prevention services. The work of Dr. Tilhou presented her with one of the National Institute on Drug Abuse’s (NIDA) prestigious Avenir Awards, supporting highly innovative early-career researchers.
I try to break away from the traditional ways we deliver healthcare in order to make care as easy as possible for people. People don’t have to work hard to get treatment that works.”
Dr. Alyssa Tilhou, Assistant Professor of Family Medicine, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
Through a timely, tailored, telemedicine approach from a highly trained clinical team, the platform will proactively connect patients to care, shifting the burden of engagement from patients to the health system itself. The project will also work with patients and providers to design workflows that are practical, acceptable and support long-term engagement and trust. By intentionally grounding the project in system-level informatics, LINK is designed to be scalable and adaptable, with applicability to health systems beyond BMC.
“You never know exactly when someone will be ready to make a big change,” says Dr. Tilhou. “By creating more opportunities for conversation, we can better meet patients where they are and support them when they’re ready.”
An important goal of the initiative is to connect patients with integrated chronic primary care. Patients will be referred to primary care providers for ongoing support, with additional training to help providers feel confident they are providing high-quality patient-centered care for both OUD and HIV.
Through the Avenir Award, Dr. Tilhou will advance new approaches to integrating HIV prevention and OUD treatment into routine clinical care, with the potential to improve patient outcomes and inform best practices for health systems nationwide.
“This is a remarkable achievement and represents the outstanding work Dr. Tilhou is doing to improve the lives of our patients with opioid use disorder,” said Megan Bair-Merritt, MD, MSCE, Chief Scientific Officer of BMC Health System.
