Recovery incentives program: California's contingency management benefit

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Addiction Medicine
• Behavioral Science

Background:

• Methamphetamine and cocaine use fuel California's overdose crisis, disproportionately impacting minority communities.
• No FDA-approved medications exist for stimulant use disorder (StimUD).
• Contingency Management (CM) shows significant efficacy for StimUD.

Purpose of the Study:

• Evaluate the real-world effectiveness of California's large-scale Contingency Management (CM) program for StimUD.
• Assess the impact of the Recovery Incentives Program on quality improvement and national CM adoption.
• Examine the role of CM in addressing the rising stimulant-related drug poisoning deaths.

Main Methods:

• A CM protocol offering up to $599 over six months for stimulant-negative urine tests.
• Utilized CLIA-waived point-of-care urine drug tests (UDTs).
• Employed a custom electronic system for incentive accounting and distribution via electronic gift cards, with a dedicated CM Coordinator role for fidelity and fraud prevention.

Main Results:

• The program's evaluation is underway, focusing on real-world implementation effectiveness.
• Anticipated to significantly influence national CM strategies for StimUD.
• Potential to reduce stimulant-related overdose fatalities.

Conclusions:

• The Recovery Incentives Program represents a novel, large-scale CM implementation for StimUD.
• The program's evaluation by UCLA aims to drive quality improvement and inform national policy.
• This initiative holds promise for mitigating the impact of stimulant use on public health.