Primary care intervention to reduce prescription opioid overdoses

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 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Reducing opioid pain medication-related adverse outcomes among patients prescribed opioids for pain is critical for ensuring safe and high quality pain care in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). Overdose is one such adverse outcome; overdose has substantially increased over the past decade and is a highly significant concern for Veterans, VHA care providers, and other stakeholders. A number of VHA initiatives have sought to improve prescribing practices in an effort to address this problem. Concurrent strategies that reduce patient behaviors that increase overdose risk have the potential to complement these efforts, but have not been examined in a controlled study. Primary care is an ideal location for identifying patients prescribed opioids who are at risk for adverse outcomes. Recent initiatives, such as Primary Care Mental Health (PC-MH), have led to the integration of behavioral health providers into primary care and provide the opportunity to deliver behavioral interventions designed specifically to reduce risky opioid use. The purpose of the Prescription Opioid Safety Trial (POST) study is to conduct a randomized controlled trial of a brief intervention to reduce opioid overdose risk behaviors among VHA primary care patients receiving long-term opioid therapy. The intervention blends elements of motivational enhancement interventions for risky substance use and cognitive behavioral pain management interventions. This new intervention will be compared to an equal attention enhanced usual care condition, with both conditions delivered by PC-MH therapists. The study will recruit 450 patients with long-term opioid use who are currently prescribed opioid doses of 50 morphine-equivalent mg/day or greater (an indicator of elevated overdose risk) from primary care clinics at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System. The specific aims are: Aim 1) to examine if patients randomly assigned to a brief overdose prevention intervention report reduce