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Lead Institution: University of Massachusetts Amherst

Status: Active

Research type: Cluster-Randomized, Stepped-Wedge Clinical Trial

Setting(s): Four Massachusetts jails

PI: Elizabeth Evans

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Massachusetts Justice Community Overdose Innovation Network (Mass JCOIN) Phase 2

The federal Medicaid Inmate Exclusion Policy (MIEP), which removes Medicaid eligibility during incarceration, is an obstacle to transitional treatment during community reentry. However, Massachusetts has received federal approval for a MIEP waiver to restart MassHealth (i.e., Medicaid) coverage 90 days before release to the community in four pilot jails that deliver medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) and have participated in Mass JCOIN 1.0. This policy change has the potential to improve transitional treatment for individuals at high risk for post-release opioid overdose, although effective models of transitional care are needed to optimize the impact of this policy innovation.

Study Aims

Examine factors impacting MIEP waiver implementation and its impact on service delivery

Use cross-agency linked data from the MA Public Health Data warehouse to assess community outcomes for people with opioid use disorder (OUD) transitioning to the community from the MIEP pilot and other jails

Estimate the cost of implementing and sustaining the MIEP waiver and associated services and the downstream cost offsets

Adapt an evidence-based course of cognitive behavioral therapy focused on OUD intervention to a reach-in telehealth format for community providers and jailed individuals receiving MOUD within 90 days of release and community transition

Perform a clinical trial of the reach-in telehealth cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) intervention

Principal Investigators

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Elizabeth Evans, PhD

University of Massachusetts Amherst

MPI

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Ekaterina Pivovarova, PhD

University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School

Co-Investigators

  • Michal Horny, PhD, MSc, University of Massachusetts Amherst
  • Aaron Sarvet, PhD, University of Massachusetts Amherst
  • Matthew Alcusky, PharmD, PhD, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Health Agency Partners

  • Dana Bernson, Massachusetts Department of Public Health
  • Devon Dunn, Massachusetts Department of Public Health

Justice Agency Partners

  • Ruth Potee, Franklin County Sheriff’s Office
  • Sheriff Lori Streeter, Franklin County Sheriff’s Office
  • Nicole Guertin, Franklin County Sheriff’s Office
  • Jen Brzezski, Franklin County Sheriff’s Office
  • Nick Cocchi, Hampden County Sheriff’s Office
  • Thomas Lincoln, Hampden County Sheriff’s Office
  • Nicole Harrington, Hampden County Sheriff’s Office
  • Sheriff Peter Koutoujian, Middlesex County Sheriff’s Office
  • Tom Senst, Middlesex County Sheriff’s Office
  • Sheriff Steven Tompkins, Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office
  • Rachelle Steinberg, Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office