The Integrating Medications for Addiction Treatment (IMAT) Index: A measure of capability at the organizational level

Abstract

Primary care provides a treatment opportunity for many persons with opioid use disorder (OUD). The push to integrate and expand reach and adoption of medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) within primary care has been a major focus of national, state and health systems endeavors. To guide high capability MOUD practice, we introduce the Integrating Medications for Addiction Treatment (IMAT) Index. The research team has developed IMAT along similar lines to other organizational measures of integrated services capability. We present the development and validation of the measure, and suggest its applicability for systems and organizations, as well as for process improvement and implementation research. Forty-one primary care clinics completed the IMAT at two time points: baseline and 9-month follow-up. Findings support the IMAT Index as psychometrically acceptable and pragmatically useful. It has good internal consistency, as well as concurrent and predictive validity. Changes in IMAT scores between baseline and follow-up significantly predicted increases in proportion of patients on MOUD. The IMAT has the potential to support both scientific and public health care activities.