A novel rural hospital/clinic-system practice-based research network: the Rural Addiction Implementation Network (RAIN) initiative and its goals, implementation, and early results.

ABSTRACT

Background: Rural and frontier communities face high rates of opioid use disorders (OUDs). In 2021, the Rural Addiction Implementation Network (RAIN) sought to establish a rural hospital/clinic-system practice-based research network (RH-PBRN) to facilitate implementation of evidence-based addiction-related prevention, treatment, and recovery (PTR) services to reduce the morbidity of OUD and substance use disorder (SUD) in rural communities.Objective: To describe the goals and implementation of PTR activities of RAIN, a novel RH-PBRN.Methods: RAIN identified teams of external/internal facilitators at four rural hospitals/clinic-networks to achieve at least 15 PTR activities involving OUD and other SUDs. RAIN utilized an implementation-facilitation approach: facilitators assessed the implementation environment and promoted interventions to overcome barriers to PTR implementation. Other interventions included site visits, community of learning calls, and e-communication. RAIN assessed and recorded facilitators and barriers to implementation, milestone attainment, and outcomes of PTR activities. At 18 months, we queried facilitators about the fidelity and implementation of RAIN activities.Results: RAIN established an HP-PBRN in four sites (Idaho, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming). Within the HP-PBRN, 20 PTR activities were established (p = 7, T = 10, R = 3; range 3-7 per site). Barriers to implementation of PTR activities included competing clinical demands, especially due to COVID-19, lack of dedicated effort for staff at sites, and stigma of addiction and its treatment. Facilitators of implementation included the use of trained expert facilitators and communication between the sites.Conclusions: RAIN implemented 20 addiction-related PTR activities in four rural hospitals/clinic-networks. RAIN's intervention model could be replicated to address addiction-related harms in other rural communities.