UCSF

Objectives

Psychostimulant-related mortality is rising alongside increasing substance use-related hospitalizations, which are commonly complicated by patient-directed (or "against medical advice") discharges. Contingency management (CM) is an underused evidence-based treatment for substance use disorders with proven efficacy to support medication adherence. Our objective was to describe feasibility and preliminary effectiveness of a novel CM intervention incentivizing both drug use reduction and antibiotic adherence in the hospital setting.

Methods

We conducted a pilot intervention of twice weekly CM for stimulant and/or opioid use disorder and antibiotic adherence conducted on inpatient wards and/or an embedded skilled nursing facility in an urban public hospital. Based on point-of-care urine drug test results and objective antibiotic adherence review, participants earned increasing opportunities to receive incentives. We measured feasibility via number of visits attempted and cost of gift cards dispensed. We evaluated effectiveness via antibiotic completion, discharge type, and participant perception of intervention effectiveness collected via structured survey.

Results

Of 13 participants enrolled, most had opioid use disorder (fentanyl in 10/13) and stimulant use disorder (methamphetamine in 7/13). Almost all were receiving treatment for osteomyelitis and/or endocarditis (12/13). Feasibility challenges included competing demands of acute care with variable range of completed visits per participant (1-12 visits). Despite this, antibiotic completion was high (92%, 12/13 participants) with only two patient-directed discharges. Participants described CM as very effective in aiding infection treatment but had greater variability in beliefs regarding CM facilitation of reduced drug use.

Conclusions

Providing CM in the hospital setting may represent an effective approach to improving health outcomes by increasing antibiotic adherence and addressing substance use.