NCT06370481

HIV, Equity, and Addiction Training (HEAT) Program

• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 30 (estimated)
• Sponsor: University of Alabama at Birmingham · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

This project is a pilot study to determine the feasibility and acceptability of a telemedicine intervention for substance use disorder service delivery in diverse people living with HIV in Alabama.

Detailed description

The contemporary drug crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic have exposed the complex syndemics of addiction and infectious diseases: rising rates of substance use disorder (SUD) have outpaced our ability to respond with a limited healthcare workforce and public health capacity. SUD is increasing in those living with and at risk for HIV, and infectious consequences of SUD, like hepatitis C, have continued, unmitigated, in rural parts of the U.S. where many states lack Medicaid expansion, syringe service programs, and public health infrastructure to respond to the drug crisis and comorbid infections. Systemic racism and regressive policies in the Deep South criminalize people who use drugs, creating additional barriers to care, HIV prevention, and addiction treatment. As a result, people who use drugs rarely receive comprehensive addiction and HIV treatment. Yet telemedicine has the potential to overcome these barriers and bypass the constraints of a brick-and-mortar clinic to link vulnerable people, including those with HIV, to care. Although telemedicine has become mainstream in recent years, few studies have evaluated telemedicine for SUD in the Deep South from the perspective of patients and providers.

Conditions

• Substance Use Disorders
• Hiv
• Opioid Use Disorder
• Stimulant Use (Diagnosis)

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	Telemedicine	Routine care administered via telemedicine
OTHER	Standard of care	Standard of care, as received in HIV clinic settings

Timeline

• Start date: 2026-01-29
• Primary completion: 2028-12-01
• Completion: 2029-06-01
• First posted: 2024-04-17
• Last updated: 2026-02-18

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States