# “Moving beyond silos”: focus groups to understand the impact of an adapted project ECHO model for a multidisciplinary statewide forum of substance use disorder care leaders

## TL;DR

A modified Project ECHO model was tested in Oregon to connect substance use disorder care leaders, aiming to reduce isolation and promote systems change.

## Contribution

The study evaluates an adapted ECHO model's impact on multidisciplinary SUD leaders and its potential to drive systems change.

## Key findings

- The adapted ECHO model fostered a multidisciplinary community of practice and reduced isolation and burnout.
- Three participants implemented organizational changes after participating in the ECHO.
- Barriers to change included lack of authority, time constraints, and systemic issues.

## Abstract

Although clinical substance use disorder (SUD) care is multidisciplinary there are few opportunities to collaborate for quality improvement or systems change. In Oregon, the Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) model was adapted to create a novel multidisciplinary SUD Leadership ECHO. The objective of this study was to understand the unique effects of the adapted ECHO model, determine if the SUD Leadership ECHO could promote systems change, and identify elements that enabled participant-leaders to make changes.

Four focus groups were conducted between August and September of 2022 with a purposive sample of participants from the second cohort of the Oregon ECHO Network’s SUD Leadership ECHO that ran January to June 2022. Focus group domains addressed the benefits of the adapted ECHO model, whether and why participants were able to make systems change following participation in the ECHO, and recommendations for improvement. Thematic analysis developed emergent themes.

16 of the 53 ECHO participants participated in the focus groups. We found that the SUD Leadership ECHO built a multi-disciplinary community of practice among leaders and reduced isolation and burnout. Three participants reported making organizational changes following participation in the ECHO. Those who successfully made changes heard best practices and how other organizations approached problems. Barriers to initiating practice and policy changes included lack of formal leadership authority, time constraints, and higher-level systemic issues. Participants desired for future iterations of the ECHO more focused presentations on a singular topic, and asked for a greater focus on solutions, advocacy, and next steps.

The adapted ECHO model was well received by focus group participants, with mixed reports on whether participation equipped them to initiate organizational or policy changes. Our findings suggest that the SUD Leadership ECHO model, with fine-tuning, is a promising avenue to support SUD leaders in promoting systems change and reducing isolation among SUD leaders.