Drughelp.care: Quickly Connecting People Struggling with Substance Misuse to Treatment that Matches their Needs

Alcohol and other drug use disorders, when left untreated, contribute to significant morbidity and mortality. Treatment is generally vastly underutilized, and individuals who are struggling with active addiction may only have a short window of time when they are amenable to treatment. It is; therefore, essential to quickly connect individual in need to quality services during this period of willingness. As a complicating factor, in the U.S., it can be challenging to find an open treatment slot that matches a person’s age (minor/adult), gender, pregnancy status, insurance status, and other treatment needs such as co-occurring physical and mental health disorder. Even seasoned professionals can have difficulty finding available treatment, or the next stage of treatment that meets basic client needs. Delays in securing treatment can lead to increases in fatal overdose. Technology can be leveraged to help bridge this gap and improve the efficiency of the service delivery system by quickly connecting those in need with services matched to their unique characteristics. Description of the application/technology/concept: Drughelp.care is a new, free, and easy to use web application funded by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention through a Data to Action grant. It allows substance use treatment provider agencies to register the services they provide and quickly update their available treatment slots and wait time on a daily basis. The app is fully searchable and allows both laypersons and professionals to enter client characteristics and instantaneously receive local treatment facilities that have availability at any given moment in time. The value of this web application was particularly apparent during the initial phase of the COVID 19 pandemic when government mandated shut downs made access to in person treatment even more difficult. Since drughelp.care is nimble and adaptable, managers of this web application were able to easily add a “telehealth” search feature without having to write new code. Within a few days of adding this new search term, more than 170 agencies were able to broadcast their availability of telehealth services. Practical description of demo: During the demonstration we will describe how drughelp.care can be used to find an available substance use disorder treatment slot that matches a client’s characteristics and needs. Search features include level of care, gender, pregnancy accommodations, age, and co-occurring mental health concerns. We also offer a filter for difficult to place clients with a sexual offense or arson history. This tool also allows a search for treatment that provides different types of medication assisted therapy, various psychosocial treatment modalities, and access to harm reduction services. A short 3 minute preview of our demonstration can be found here: https://drughelp.care/static/media/Drughelp_care_How_To_Video_v1_small.ca5229a9.mp4 We hope to inspire others to solve health related challenges by leveraging technology.