Recruiting

CM & UC

Sponsor:

University of Vermont

Code:

NCT07129902

Conditions

Opioid Use Disorder

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18+

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Interventions

Contingency Management

Usual care as prescribed by the ED physicians

Study Details

Brief summary:

Project Summary The goal of this pilot clinical trial is to assess contingency management (CM) for increasing attendance at outpatient clinics after Medication for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD) prescription and clinic referral occurred in the hospital Emergency Department (ED).

  • The researchers will compare usual care (UC)+CM to UC alone to see if 1) CM works to promote MOUD clinic attendance after discharge from the ED and 2) demonstrate feasibility of providing CM in the ED and outpatient MOUD clinic settings.
  • Researchers will randomize 30 adults who started MOUD in the ED into two conditions. These conditions consist of (A) UC alone: A referral to an outpatient buprenorphine or methadone provider with reminders from STAR program staff or (B) UC+CM: UC plus financial incentives dependent on MOUD clinic attendance to receive an MOUD prescription.

The primary outcome of interest is the number of participants who receive their first MOUD prescription from the outpatient clinic after discharge from the ED in UC+CM compared to the UC-only condition. A secondary outcome will be the proportion of participants who kept attending outpatient MOUD treatment by the end of the 30-day study period between UC+CM and UC conditions. An exploratory outcome will be biochemically-verified illicit opioid abstinence measured at day 30.

Conditions

Opioid Use Disorder

Study ID

NCT07129902

Start date

Sep 2, 2025

Status verified date

May, 2026

Completion date

May, 2027

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Apr, 2027

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18+

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Major inclusion criteria include

  • STAR referral to outpatient clinic (Addiction Treatment Center and Chittenden Clinic) with prescription for buprenorphine or methadone.
  • Age ≥18 years.
  • Provide informed consent.

Exclusion Criteria

  • Pending incarceration in the next 30 days.
  • Plan to leave the area (Burlington/Chittenden County) in the next 30 days.
  • Physical, health, or structural challenge that prevents attendance at outpatient clinic.

Study Design

Enrollment

30 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Parallel Assignment

Primary purpose

Treatment

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: Contingency Management

Participants assigned to this arm will receive incentives when they complete their first outpatient MOUD clinic visit and when they complete subsequent visits to pick up their MOUD prescription for the 30-day study period.

active comparator: Usual Care

All participants will receive standard outpatient care at their clinic.

Interventions

Contingency Management

Participants in the active arm will receive payment (monetary incentive) contingent on outpatient MOUD treatment attendance.

Usual care as prescribed by the ED physicians

All participants will receive standard outpatient care at their clinic.

Primary outcome measure

  • Intake at outpatient MOUD clinic [ Time Frame: 30 days ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Eric A Thrailkill, Ph.D.

602-291-7311eric.thrailkill@uvm.edu

Locations

University of Vermont Medical Center

Recruiting

Burlington, Vermont, United States, 05405

Contacts

Eric Thrailkill, Ph.D.

602-291-7311eric.thrailkill@uvm.edu

Principal Investigator:

Eric Thrailkill, Ph.D.

More Information

Sponsor

University of Vermont

Last update posted

May 29, 2026

Last verified

May, 2026

Keywords

  • contingency management
  • medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD)
  • emergency departments
  • opioid use disorder

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-10. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by University of Vermont on 2026-05-29.