Best ED-based SUD Interventions Products

In general, mental health screening tools provide insight but fail to help providers connect patients with the appropriate care. A range of tools exist to support providers in better screening and triaging mental health patients. Screening tools that include embedded decision support to help non-mental health providers direct patients to the right care are especially helpful.

This sequencing avoids congestion and preserves expensive resources for appropriate emergencies. Examples of ED triage include the Verticle Flow technique, which brings staff and supplies to the patient at bedside, and the Fast Track technique, which develops mini urgent care clinics established within the ED.

ED care navigators are nurses or CHWs who connect targeted ED patients to a primary care provider (PCP). Alerted in real time by triggers embedded in the EMR, they intervene at the bedside when the patient: 1) has minor conditions and 2) lacks a personal PCP. Beyond establishing a PCP, navigators also help connect patients with resources like transportation, housing or medication.

These interventions can be administered in the community, through a crisis phone line, in the ED and at other sites of care throughout a health system (i.e., walk-in clinic). By providing this intervention at the right time, the first responder and clinical team seeks to mitigate further escalation of the psychological stress and minimize the potential for long-term trauma.

Crisis intervention teams (CITs) are police-based models that seek to de-escalate acute mental or substance use–related health crises.

In these programs, care managers are responsible for a subset of patient populations helping them find providers, attend appointments, manage medications, and participate in care plans. Care management programs commonly stratify patients by condition, disease severity, or demographics such as age or socioeconomic status.

Emergency Department: ED care navigators work exclusively with patients in the ED setting. Navigators are alerted in real-time by triggers embedded in the EMR to intervene at the bedside when the patient has minor conditions or lacks a personal PCP. Beyond establishing a PCP, navigators also help connect patients with resources such as transportation, housing or medication.

It combines counseling, behavioral therapies, and the use of FDA-approved medication (methadone, buprenorphine, or naltrexone) and can be deployed in a variety of settings, including the emergency department (ED), which is a critical intervention point for individuals with a substance use disorder (SUD). ED interventions can be applied to those who arrive due to overdose, those specifically seeking treatment, or those presenting for a different condition but identified as needing SUD-specific treatment via screening.