Opioid treatment program-integrated facilitated telemedicine for hepatitis C treatment: a hybrid effectiveness-implementation analysis

TL;DR

This study evaluates how integrating telemedicine into opioid treatment programs improves hepatitis C treatment effectiveness and patient satisfaction compared to traditional referral methods.

Contribution

The study introduces a hybrid effectiveness-implementation analysis of a telemedicine model for HCV treatment within opioid treatment programs.

Findings

Facilitated telemedicine requires fewer variables to achieve high HCV cure rates and patient satisfaction compared to referral.

Low provider and counselor patient volumes and consistent case manager presence improve outcomes in both telemedicine and referral approaches.

Intervention maintenance was achieved at 10 sites, indicating sustainability of the telemedicine model.

Abstract

Hybrid effectiveness-implementation designs evaluate the effectiveness and implementation of interventions. We retrospectively evaluated the implementation of a stepped-wedge cluster randomized controlled trial of a facilitated telemedicine model (experimental) integrated into opioid treatment programs (OTPs) compared to offsite referral (control) for hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment. The trial period was March 2017–October 2022. We compared organizational and implementation characteristics associated with an HCV cure and with high satisfaction with healthcare delivery.

We used the Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, Maintenance (RE-AIM) framework to guide data collection and evaluation. We evaluated the clinical effectiveness outcome (HCV cure) and patient-centered outcomes (changes between in-person and telemedicine patient satisfaction questionnaire subscales: Time Spent With Doctor and General Satisfaction). We evaluated 7 organizational and 16 implementation variables. We used random forests to obtain a list of variables with total importance weight of at least 95%. We subsequently conducted a configurational comparative method of coincidence analysis (CNA) to identify the variable combinations that are associated with the best outcomes.

The effectiveness of reach was enhanced by site identification of HCV RNA positive individuals. We found that low patient load per provider or counselor, site liaison presence, and high case manager availability increased clinical effectiveness (i.e., HCV cure). Adoption and implementation, assessed by high healthcare delivery satisfaction among participants in both arms, was associated with site liaisons, frequent case manager onsite presence and consistency, and low provider patient volume. Among telemedicine participants, onsite notifications and provider involvement in recruitment were additional variables associated with high healthcare satisfaction. In referral, providing patient education, low counselor patient volume, case manager involvement in site activities, and high case manager education levels were additional variables associated with high healthcare delivery satisfaction. Intervention maintenance has occurred at 10 sites.

Compared to referral, facilitated telemedicine requires fewer variables for high effectiveness and patient satisfaction. The frequent onsite presence and consistency of the case manager and low provider and counselor volumes improved outcomes among both approaches. Improved outcomes among referral participants required more publicity, patient education, higher case manager education, more involvement in site activities, and occurred in university-affiliated sites.

Clintrials.gov registration number NCT02933970; Comparison of Telemedicine to Usual Care for HCV Management for Methadone-maintained Individuals Full Text View ClinicalTrials.gov.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12906-025-05138-9.

Figures