Project MIMIC (Maximizing Implementation of Motivational Incentives in Clinics)

There is an urgent need for effective treatments for patients with opioid use disorder (OUD). This study will train opioid treatment programs in an evidence-based behavioral treatment called contingency management (CM). Contingency management (i.e., motivational incentives for achieving pre-defined treatment goals) is one of the only behavioral interventions shown to improve patient treatment outcomes when combined with FDA-approved pharmacotherapy. Unfortunately, however, uptake of CM in opioid treatment programs remains low. In response to the urgent need for evidence-based behavioral OUD treatments, the investigators propose a large-scale type 3 hybrid trial comparing two comprehensive strategies to promote CM implementation as an adjunct to pharmacotherapy within opioid treatment programs. The control condition is the staff training strategy used by the New England Addiction Technology Transfer Center, which consists of didactic workshop, performance feedback, and staff coaching. The experimental condition is the ATTC strategy enhanced by external leadership coaching (using a model called Implementation Sustainment Facilitation; ISF) and provider incentives (using a model called Pay for Performance; P4P). A cluster randomized design trial will be conducted with 30 opioid treatment programs across New England. Centers will be randomized to one of the two implementation conditions (ATTC vs. enhanced-ATTC) over the 5 year project. At each opioid treatment program, data will be collected at multiple intervals from CM treatment providers, organizational leaders, and newly admitted patients. Additionally, patient charts will be randomly selected for review to examine sustainment. Data collection will include electronic medical record review, ratings of audio recordings by staff blind to condition, well-validated measures, and provider weekly report of patient encounter data. Specific Aims of the study are to experimentally compare the effect of the two conditions on implementation outcomes (Primary Aim) and on patient outcomes (Secondary Aim). An Exploratory Aim is to test whether two organization-level variables (i.e., implementation climate, leadership engagement) partially mediate the relationship between implementation condition and the key study outcomes.