Project Relay Model for Recruiting Alcohol Dependent Patients in General Hospitals

An increase in individuals with alcohol dependence receiving specialized alcohol treatment will be of major importance for society's response to alcohol problems and its consequences. The Danish population has a large intake of alcohol. Approximately 20% of the adult population are heavy drinkers ( >14/21 drinks/ week (women/men)), 14% are harmful users, and 3% are dependent drinkers. Untreated alcohol use disorders lead to frequent contacts to the health care system associated with considerable human and societal costs. A first approach would be to identify and recruit patients from general hospitals, where the proportion of inpatients with alcohol use disorders range between 16 % and 26%. A referral model to ensure treatment for alcohol dependent patients after discharge is needed.

The main objective of the study is to develop strategies which increase the likelihood that patients report for outpatient alcohol treatment after discharge. It is likely that an optimization of the transfer procedure between hospital and outpatient clinic will lead to that more patients will be engage in psychosocial treatment for their alcohol abuse, which will improve the prognosis, reduce re-admissions and the use of hospital beds and, thus have positive economic consequences. We evaluate the Relay Model in order to assess i) efficacy, ii) cost-effectiveness and iii) overall societal cost impacts.

The target group of the present study is patients suffering from alcohol dependence admitted to a general hospital located in an urban area and a general hospital located in a rural area.

A single-blind pragmatic randomised controlled trial including patients admitted to Hospital. The study group(n=500) receive an Intervention and the control group(n=500) are referred to treatment by usual procedures. All patients complete a lifestyle questionnaire with the Danish self-report version of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) embedded as a case identification strategy. The patients are informed that an alcohol therapist may contact them and give feedback on their responses.

The completed forms are reviewed daily and an AUDIT score of 8+prompts a call to the Alcohol therapist, who attends the departments on different days randomly drawn by a computer. The RELAY MODEL intervention include a Brief Motivational Intervention. Patients who score AUDIT 16+ are also offered an appointment at the alcohol treatment clinic.

Primary measure is health care expenditures 12 months after discharge, according to the International Classification of Health Accounts, extracted from population registers. The analysis will be repeated on a yearly basis during the following 5 years.

Secondary outcome: The percentage of the target group, who, 30 days after discharge, reports at the alcohol treatment clinics.

A multiple regression model will be used. Since non-treated alcohol disorders generate a high number of societal costs annually for health care, social services, traffic accidents, criminal activities and lost productions we believe the Relay Model to be either cost-neutral or cost-effective, i.e. low net costs compared to effectiveness. We expect to establish evidence that the Relay Model is either cost-neutral or cost-effective, compared to referral by usual procedures.