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BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article

Front. Pediatr.
Sec. General Pediatrics and Pediatric Emergency Care
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fped.2024.1337944

Which Pediatric Practices Use Substance Use Consultation Services? A Network Analysis

Provisionally accepted
Sharon Levy Sharon Levy 1*Mei-Sing Ong Mei-Sing Ong 2Machiko Minegishi Machiko Minegishi 1Melissa Brogna Melissa Brogna 1Shannon Mountain-Ray Shannon Mountain-Ray 1Elyse Neubauer Elyse Neubauer 1Jonas Bromberg Jonas Bromberg 3John Straus John Straus 4Elissa Weitzman Elissa Weitzman 1,5
  • 1 Division of Addiction Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
  • 2 Department of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
  • 3 Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
  • 4 Massachusetts Child Psychiatry Access Program, Boston, United States
  • 5 Departments of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Substance use disorders (SUD) are common in adolescents and young adults, though few youth with SUD receive treatment, and rates of medication for substance use disorder treatment are much lower in youth compared to adults. Pediatric primary care could present an opportunity for youth with SUD to access medication, though pediatric providers may need support. Massachusetts has provided a substance use consultation line for pediatric providers since 2018. One large network of independent primary care practices within the state has been further supported by access to resources provided through a grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. In this paper, we describe the services provided in Massachusetts and examine whether additional resources are associated with increased use of the consultation line as a marker of provider engagement in SUD treatment.

    Keywords: adolescents1, substance use2, treatment3, Primary care4, alcohol5, Tobacco6, cannabis7

    Received: 02 Dec 2023; Accepted: 24 Jun 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Levy, Ong, Minegishi, Brogna, Mountain-Ray, Neubauer, Bromberg, Straus and Weitzman. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Sharon Levy, Division of Addiction Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, 02115, Massachusetts, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.