Multisite Mobile Addiction Services: Four-Year Outcomes
Tschampl, Cynthia A.; Wicks, Jennifer J.; Hodgkin, Dominic; Regis, Craig; Baptista, Jadyn; Chapman, Brittany P.; Davies, Madeline E.; De La Cruz, Kimberly; Peugh, Karen; Pinkhover, Allyson; Plant, Ben; Sarin Gupta, Priya; Mackin, Sarah; Urquhart, Catherine E.; Walsh, Samantha; Gaeta, Jessie M.; Horgan, Constance; Taveras, Elsie M.
Why this matters
Multi-site results carry more weight than a single program, and this is the largest published mobile addiction dataset. Across six Massachusetts programs between 2022 and 2024 there were 17,887 harm reduction and 16,117 clinical encounters serving 4,645 people, with buprenorphine started for 1,227 and 15 percent still in treatment at 180 days.
Abstract
First launched in Boston, MA in January 2018, Community Care in Reach is a mobile addiction model that uses mobile clinics to deliver harm reduction and clinical services to people at high risk of drug-related morbidity and mortality and who are unhoused or at risk of losing housing. Through a public/private partnership, the model has grown to include six programs across Massachusetts. Using the RE-AIM framework, this initial, descriptive evaluation for this multisite project included quantitative and qualitative methods to give insight into reach and performance. From 1 January 2022 to 30 June 2024, there were 17,887 harm reduction encounters and 16,117 clinical encounters providing care to 4645 individuals. Buprenorphine-based treatment (a key medication for opioid use disorder) was initiated among 1227 individuals, of whom 15% remained in buprenorphine-based treatment after 180 days. Evaluation across multiple organizations posed unique challenges; however, results demonstrated universal engagement of hard-to-reach individuals.