ABSTRACT: Project ECHO: A new model for educating primary care providers about treatment of substance use disorders.
BACKGROUND:Project ECHO trains and mentors primary care providers (PCPs) in the care of patients with complex conditions. ECHO is a distance education model that connects specialists with numerous PCPs via simultaneous video link for the purpose of facilitating case-based learning. We describe a teleECHO clinic based at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center that is focused on treatment of substance use disorders (SUDs) and behavioral health disorders.METHODS:Since 2005, specialists in treatment of SUDs and behavioral health disorders at Project ECHO have offered a weekly 2-hour Integrated Addictions and Psychiatry (IAP) TeleECHO Clinic focused on supporting PCP evaluation and treatment of SUDs and behavioral health disorders. We tabulate the number of teleECHO clinic sessions, participants, and CME/CEU credits provided annually. This teleECHO clinic has also been used to recruit physicians to participate in DATA-2000 buprenorphine waiver trainings. Using a database of the practice location of physicians who received the buprenorphine waiver since 2002, we calculate the number of waivered physicians per capita in US states. We evaluate the increase in waivered physicians practicing in underserved areas in NM compared to the rest of the US.RESULTS:Since 2008, approximately 950 patient cases have been presented during the teleECHO clinic, and more than 9000 hours of CME/CEU have been awarded. Opioids are the substances discussed most commonly (31%), followed by Alcohol (21%) and Cannabis (12%). New Mexico is near the top among US states in DATA-2000 buprenorphine waivered physicians per capita, and has had much more rapid growth in waivered physicians practicing in traditionally-underserved areas compared with the rest of the US since the initiation of the teleECHO clinic focused on SUDs in 2005.CONCLUSION:The ECHO model provides an opportunity to promote expansion of access to treatment for opioid use disorder and other SUDs, particularly in underserved areas.
Written by Brian S McGowan, PhD
Dr. McGowan has served in leadership positions in numerous medical educational organizations and commercial supporters and is a Fellow of the Alliance (FACEhp). He founded the Outcomes Standardization Project, launched and hosted the Alliance Podcast, and most recently launched and hosts the JCEHP Emerging Best Practices in CPD podcast. In 2012 he Co-Founded ArcheMedX, Inc, a healthcare informatics and e-learning company to apply his research in practice.
