Journal of general internal medicine
October 14, 2026 · via Europe PMC
Feasibility of Implementing a Pharmacist-Integrated Collaborative Model for Opioid Use Disorder: A Nonrandomized Clinical Trial.
Homsted F, Fiellin DA, Ghitza UE, +18 more, Marsch LA.
AI summary — for doctors, generated from the abstract only
Integrating pharmacists into primary care opioid use disorder treatment was feasible and acceptable in a nonrandomized trial, with encouraging but untested signals on treatment measures.
What was studied
Nonrandomized mixed-methods feasibility trial (March 2022 to October 2024) of the PrIMO pharmacist-integrated model at four primary care sites, surveying staff for 15 months and patients for 6 months, plus electronic health record data.
Key findings
- All four sites (100%) launched PrIMO and maintained it for at least 1 year.
- Staff reported fewer barriers to providing MOUD (2.2 to 1.8) and more knowledge (3.8 to 4.0); patients reported less stigma (3.1 to 2.8) and steady acceptability.
- EHR measures numerically rose, including adherence to MOUD (38.6 to 40.9%) and clinic visits (+100 encounters), but statistical significance was not assessed.
Clinical relevance
Suggests pharmacists can extend MOUD capacity in primary care, helping teams with medication expertise and access.
Who should care
Limitations
No control group, only four sites, follow-up completion of 80.6% (staff) and 75.5% (patients), and no significance testing for EHR outcomes, so effectiveness is not established.
The model was feasible and acceptable; effectiveness needs a controlled evaluation.
This is an AI-generated summary of the published abstract, not a clinical recommendation. It may not reflect the full text or subsequent updates — verify against the original source before acting on it.
Abstract
Background
Addressing the opioid crisis requires an interdisciplinary approach. Pharmacists may provide medication expertise to primary care addiction teams.
Objective
To determine whether implementing a pharmacist-integrated model of care for opioid use disorder (PrIMO) was feasible and acceptable.
Design
Nonrandomized mixed-methods longitudinal feasibility/implementation trial conducted from March 2022 to October 2024.
Participants
Four primary care sites with retail pharmacies and clinical pharmacists. Participants were adults employed by the clinics and adult patients receiving medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) exposed to PrIMO for at least 2 weeks. Site staff (provider, pharmacists, leadership) were surveyed for 15 months (80.6% follow-up completion) and patients for 6 months (75.5% follow-up completion).
Intervention
Pharmacist-integrated MOUD.
Main measures
Primary: Feasibility (PrIMO launch). Secondary: acceptability (survey and interview data) and impact (electronic health record data).
Key results
All sites launched PrIMO (100%) and maintained it for at least 1 year. From 3 months pre- to 1 year post-launch, site staff reported fewer barriers to providing MOUD (m [SD] 2.2 [0.8] to 1.8 [0.5], 1-4-point scale), increased knowledge of MOUD (3.8 [0.4] to 4.0 [0.5], 1-5-point scale), and steady acceptability by providers/pharmacists (2.1 [0.3] to 2.0 [0.4], 0-3-point scale) and leadership (2.1 [0.3] to 2.0 [0.4], 0-3-point scale). Patients reported less stigma (3.1 [1.1] to 2.8 [1.1], 1-5-point scale) and steady acceptability (2.2 [0.4] to 2.2 [0.4], 0-3-point scale). Electronic health records data demonstrated increases in the rate of patients retained in MOUD (m [SD] 59.5 [34.81] to 60.2 [35.35] proportion of days covered), adherence to MOUD (38.6 to 40.9%), clinic visits for MOUD (+ 100 encounters), and total patients treated per prescriber (m [SD] 12.9 [32.49] to 13.7 [35.07]) 1 year pre- vs 1 year post-launch, although statistical significance was not assessed.
Conclusions
Integrating pharmacists into MOUD care teams may improve feasibility and acceptability of MOUD in primary care.
Clinical trial registration
ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT05310786, March 14, 2022.
DOI
10.1007/s11606-026-10924-3
PMID
42875616
Research metadata (titles, abstracts, authors, publication dates) is sourced from Europe PMC, which aggregates content from PubMed/MEDLINE, PubMed Central, and other providers under the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM/NCBI). NLM does not claim copyright on abstracts; the original journal publishers or authors may hold rights to the full articles. AI-generated summaries are derived only from the abstract, never the full text, and are always labeled as AI-generated.
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