ResearchProjects

Integrated approaches for the combined treatment of substance abuse and HIV are crucial, and effectiveness trials can provide the best evidence about clinical practice to inform practitioners and policy makers about the most clinically and cost effective treatment.

The study team has established a partnership between the City University of New York and the Mount Sinai Health System to develop a comprehensive, integrated program to detect and reduce substance abuse and, in turn, to improve antiretroviral adherence, substance use and associated health outcomes among patients in a large healthcare setting.

The project:

• Developed an intervention to integrate substance abuse treatment with HIV care in a consortium of HIV clinics in New York City
• Tested the effectiveness of the intervention to implement a screening tool and training of patient health navigators at six HIV clinics
• Developed optimized technologies within the electronic health record (EHR) system used at the HIV clinics and integrate these with existing substance-use treatment mobile applications to retain patients in recovery and relapse prevention
• Assessed the cost-effectiveness of implementing this organizational-level intervention.