This is the second part of “Mobile Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder: Examples from the Field,” which is a three-part series that describes six mobile treatment programs as of August 2020.
Part I profiled two mobile treatment programs serving urban areas and providing either only-induction or only-maintenance treatment for people with opioid-use disorder (OUD). This Part II segment profiles two programs in rural, underserved areas that provide both induction and maintenance treatment. One program is the Eastern Shore Mobile Care Collaborative (ESMCC) at Caroline County Health Department in Maryland. The second program profiled is the Mobile Health Services program implemented by the Colorado Department of Human services, Office of Behavioral Health (OBH). This commentary notes that mobile treatment programs serving rural areas may require different implementation approaches than those serving urban areas. Also, programs that provide only-induction, only-maintenance treatment, or both types of services each have distinctive service delivery models that align with various stages of a person’s recovery and use of medication-assisted treatment (MAT). The ESMCC and OBH mobile programs help people in rural areas start MAT and stay on MAT. Both programs also use telehealth and have established community partnerships that enable them to offer additional confidential meeting spaces outside of the designated mobile treatment units.