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

Study Information

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 MOUD and have participated in MassJCOIN 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.

Grant number: 1RM1DA064500

Link to NIH Reporter record: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9882684

Study Team

PI: Elizabeth Evans, Ekaterina Pivovarova

Logos of Baystate Health, UMass Medical School, and UMass Amherst

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 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 CBT intervention

Research Type

Cluster-Randomized, Stepped Wedge Clinical Trial