VA Transitional Pain Service Study

Recruiting

Reducing Chronic Opioid Use Among Veterans Undergoing Community Care Surgery Using a Transitional Pain Service

Who can join

Ages 18 and older · All sexes

Full eligibility criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

Aims 1 \& 3:

* The investigators will include Veterans who are referred to the Veteran Community Care Program (VCCP) for an orthopedic surgery procedure from any VA medical center throughout VISN-19.
* Additionally, these Veterans must be 18+ years of age who are not on chronic opioids at the time of surgery, and who have a VA primary care provider (PCP).

Aim 2:

* Veterans who received TPS (Aim 1) and referring VA Primary Care Providers.

Exclusion Criteria:

Aim 1:

* The investigators will exclude Veterans who are scheduled for other types of surgical procedures, are on chronic opioid therapy before surgery, are on hospice or end-of-life care, are cognitively impaired, or unable to complete the follow-up visits for any other reason.

Aim 2:

* The investigators will exclude Veterans not randomized to the TPS Telehealth intervention of Aim 1.

  * Primary Care Providers will be excluded if they do not primarily work at the VA.

Aim 3:

* The investigators will exclude Veterans who were not randomized to the TPS Telehealth intervention.
* Veterans who experienced a major complication during the perioperative period or experienced an extended length of stay (LOS) based on exceeding the upper interquartile range of median LOS.
* Exclusion criteria for this aim also include patients on hospice care, individuals discharged to a care facility, and those with scheduled readmissions for follow up procedure(s) within 90-days.

About the study

The VA Community Care Program has provided an important resource to improve access to surgical care for Veterans unable to have treatment at VA Medical Centers (VAMC). However, there is an increased risk of developing chronic opioid use when at-risk surgical patients receive opioids from non-VA providers. A multidisciplinary approach to perioperative pain management known as the Transitional Pain Service (TPS) has been shown to effectively reduce chronic opioid use among Veterans after surgery, but it is unknown whether it can be used to achieve the same outcomes for Veterans using Community Care for high-risk surgery. Through this project, the investigators will generate important data to establish whether a telehealth TPS approach can serve as a scalable and effective strategy to ensure safe opioid use among Veterans undergoing orthopedic surgery. The investigators will randomize Veterans using Community Care for orthopedic surgery to telehealth TPS versus standard of care. Finally, the investigators will interview patients using Community Care to better understand barriers and facilitators to telehealth TPS and Veteran satisfaction with the approach to pain management.

What is being tested

Transitional Pain Service (behavioral)

Sponsor: VA Office of Research and Development · Participants: 400 · Started: Mar 1, 2024

Contact the study team

Benjamin S Brooke, MD PhD · Phone: (801) 582-1565
Julie L Hales · Phone: (801) 582-1565

Official record on ClinicalTrials.gov — NCT06223503

Locations in the U.S.

Utah	VA Salt Lake City Health Care System, Salt Lake City, UT, Salt Lake City

Conditions

From ClinicalTrials.gov, data retrieved Sep 30, 2026. Each study sets its own eligibility; the study team decides who can join.