Integrating MAUD Into Palliative Care

Providing palliative care to individuals with a history of alcohol use or alcohol use disorder (AUD) requires understanding the various characteristics, comorbidities, impacts and treatments for AUD, including medications for AUD (MAUD).

Up to 28% of inpatient palliative care patients have experienced challenges with alcohol use, and a large percentage of them (67% to 87%) are first identified as having a history of alcohol dependence when they enter into the palliative care setting. Because of associated and comorbid conditions, and the perceived risks associated with them, medications for AUD (MAUD) often remain underused within palliative care settings.

Improving access to person-centered palliative care for people with AUD would allow clinicians to consider these factors as a part of a holistic, multidisciplinary, person-centered care approach to treating AUD and other associated and comorbid conditions.

Join the Providers Clinical Support System (PCSS)-MAUD and the National Council for Mental Wellbeing on Tuesday, April 8, 1-2 p.m. ET, to explore integrating AUD treatment into palliative care and solutions to improve access to and experiences of palliative care and MAUD. Attendees will hear from a pharmacology and palliative care expert about MAUD, palliative care and the benefits of combining the two.

Educational objectives:

• Review how palliative care fits into the management of patients with AUD.
• Determine therapeutic considerations when selecting MAUD for palliative care patients.
• Identify three ways in which palliative care can support patients with AUD.

Speaker:

• Joshua Borris, PharmD, MS, BCGP, Clinical Pharmacist, MedStar Harbor Hospital

Funding for this initiative was made possible by cooperative agreement No. 1H79TI086771-01 from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The views expressed in written conference materials or publications and by speakers and moderators do not necessarily reflect the official policies of the Department of Health and Human Services, nor does mention of trade names, commercial practices or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. government.