Department of Psychiatry, NYU Langone, New York, NY (LF); Department of Population Health, Bellevue Hospital Center, New York, NY (BT, NK); Office of Behavioral Health, Health + Hospitals, NYUMC, Department of Population Health (NK); Department of Population Health, Section on Tobacco, Alcohol, and Drug Use, Bellevue Hospital, New York, NY Center (JM).
J Addict Med. 2022;16(1):e59-e61. doi: 10.1097/ADM.0000000000000836.
Criminal justice involved individuals have a high rate of opioid overdose death following release. In March 2020, New York City jails released over 1000 inmates due to concern of COVID-19 outbreaks in county jails. The closure of addiction treatment clinics further complicated efforts to expand access to medications for opioid use disorder among criminal justice involved adults. The New York City Health + Hospitals Virtual Buprenorphine Clinic established in March 2020 offered low-threshold telemedicine-based opioid treatment with buprenorphine-naloxone, specifically for criminal justice involved adults post-release. We describe a case report of the novel role of tele-conferencing for the provision of buprenorphine-naloxone for jail-released adults with opioid use disorder experiencing homelessness during the COVID-19 pandemic. The patient is a 49-year-old male with severe opioid use disorder released from New York City jail as part of its early release program. He then started using diverted buprenorphine-naloxone, and 1 month later a harm-reduction specialist at his temporary housing at a hotel referred him to an affiliated buprenorphine provider and then eventually to the New York City Health + Hospitals Virtual Buprenorphine Clinic, where he was continued on buprenorphine-naloxone, and was followed biweekly thereafter until being referred to an office-based opioid treatment program. For this patient, telemedicine-based opioid treatment offered a safe and feasible approach to accessing medication for opioid use disorder during the COVID-19 pandemic and following incarceration.
刑满释放人员阿片类药物过量死亡的风险很高。2020 年 3 月，由于担心县监狱爆发 COVID-19，纽约市监狱释放了 1000 多名囚犯。成瘾治疗诊所的关闭进一步增加了扩大刑满释放成年人获得阿片类药物使用障碍治疗药物的难度。2020 年 3 月成立的纽约市健康与医院虚拟丁丙诺啡诊所提供基于低门槛远程医疗的丁丙诺啡-纳洛酮阿片类药物治疗，专门针对刑满释放的成年人。我们描述了一个案例报告，即在 COVID-19 大流行期间，为无家可归的患有阿片类药物使用障碍的刑满释放成年人提供远程会议丁丙诺啡-纳洛酮治疗的新作用。患者为 49 岁男性，因严重阿片类药物使用障碍从纽约市监狱提前获释。他开始使用被转移的丁丙诺啡-纳洛酮，1 个月后，他在酒店的临时住所的一名减少伤害专家将他转介给了一家附属的丁丙诺啡提供者，最终转介到纽约市健康与医院虚拟丁丙诺啡诊所，他在那里继续接受丁丙诺啡-纳洛酮治疗，此后每两周随访一次，直到被转介到一个基于办公室的阿片类药物治疗项目。对于这名患者，远程医疗为他在 COVID-19 大流行期间和监禁后获得阿片类药物使用障碍治疗提供了一种安全可行的方法。
