External Facilitation to Increase Prescribing of AUD Medications in the Psychiatric Setting

This project will pilot test an implementation facilitation intervention to increase prescribing of medications for alcohol use disorder (MAUD) in patients with major mental illness and alcohol use disorder in three psychiatry treatment clinics. Guided by the integrated Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services framework, an external facilitator will work with each clinics' internal champion to (1) provide clinic level education on MAUD in non-specialty care settings, (2) provide clinic level training in using a standardized screen measure for alcohol use disorder, documenting screening results in the electronic health record, and documenting alcohol use disorder diagnosis in the electronic health record, (3) help internal champions use an audit and feedback system for weekly review of MAUD education and prescribing, (4) help internal champions do weekly care coordination for patients with major mental illness and alcohol use disorder, and (5) make educational materials on MAUD available on site to patients so they are informed about these treatment options. Internal champions and clinics will have access to consultation from a MAUD clinician expert. These activities will take place across pre-implementation and implementation phases and will be followed by a post-implementation facilitation sustainment period during which clinics and champions continue implementation on their own. Formative Evaluation activities will take place throughout; at the end of the sustainment phase, MAUD outcomes will be assessed.