Demand far exceeds supply in California for buprenorphine, a medication for opioid use disorder proven to lower overdose death rates and improve retention in treatment. However, many primary care providers are hesitant to add addiction treatment to their practice without sufficient specialist support — and there are not enough specialists in California to meet the need.

The hub-and-spoke model has been used to connect primary care prescribers (spokes) to specialists (hubs), ensuring better, coordinated care. Patients with more advanced or complex addiction can start treatment and be stabilized at the hub, and then transferred to the spoke for ongoing management. Likewise, patients proving too complicated for care at the spoke can be managed by the hub — in-person or by telemedicine.

In this webinar, participants hear about successful hub-and-spoke models in Los Angeles and Vermont and gather insights about implementing the model.

The panelists of this webinar include:

• Desirée A. Crèvecoeur-MacPhail, PhD, a research psychologist and principal investigator at UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs
• John Brooklyn, MD, medical director, Howard Center Chittenden Clinic and Baymark Opioid Treatment Programs in Vermont
• Jeffrey DeVido, MD, MTS, UCSF, Assistant Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Medical Director, Marin County Drug Medi-Cal Program

A recording of the event, a treatment questionnaire, and the presentation slides are available below.