Leveraging Community Harm Reduction Services to Provide Mobile Primary Care/SUD Treatment

The opioid epidemic has ravaged urban underserved communities with limited access to primary care and substance use disorder treatment. This focus session introduces participants to an innovative practice model integrating mobile primary care services and a low threshold opioid treatment into a longstanding mobile harm reduction and syringe exchange program in urban underserved communities. This unique program brings care to underserved patients in the community who may not engage with the traditional health care system, such as patients experiencing unstable housing or justice-involved. The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) Community Outreach Intervention Projects (COIP) Mobile Unit was started as a collaboration of the UIC College of Medicine and College of Pharmacy as an extension of the harm reduction work being done by COIP, run by the UIC School of Public Health. Additionally, this unique program utilizes a partnership of a primary care group with Family Guidance Centers, Inc, who is a regional opioid treatment group in Chicago. The program is implemented by a multidisciplinary team including clinicians, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, outreach workers, social workers, and public health professionals, reflecting the collaborative nature needed to meet the diverse needs of this patient population. The goal of this focus session is to discuss unique challenges to mobile primary and substance use disorder care, including partnerships with opioid treatment programs, interacting with the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), and collaborating with harm reduction programs to support patients’ treatment goals. Participants will gain a better understanding of emerging mobile treatment models, integrating interprofessional education and patient care, and engaging in harm reduction within underserved populations.