Promising Models
At Boston Children’s, she said, the Division of Addiction Medicine has created a consultation call line that primary care providers can call for help with any questions about teen substance use.
After running the consultation for about a year, she said, the program wanted to add ways to help patients directly and hired and trained social workers who can see pediatric patients with substance use problems for counseling via telemedicine. “The program also now supports group therapy for pediatric patients and parents, so that primary care providers can refer patients directly to group therapy,” Dr. Levy said.
The growth of telehealth since the pandemic may allow for new models of care.
“For example, now our Adolescent Substance Use and Addiction Program at Boston Children’s Hospital can provide services, including medication induction and follow-up, virtually,” Dr. Levy said. “This allows us to treat young people anywhere in the state. There have been instances in which a primary care provider referred us patients with OUD and then partnered with us, including performing physicals for teens who could not get to Boston to see us in person. At the end of the day, the more models we can come up with the better.”
Dr. Hadland reported honoraria from the AAP outside the submitted work. Two coauthors reported receiving salary support from the AAP during the conduct of the study. A coauthor reported serving as the chair of the AAP Committee on Substance Use and Prevention outside the submitted work. This work was supported by a grant from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation via the AAP. Dr. Sharon Levy’s husband, Ofer Levy, MD, PhD, is director of the Precision Vaccines Program at Boston Children’s Hospital.