What Works In Rural OUD Care: A Best​ Practice Case Study With St. Matthews Pharmacy & Spero Health

The challenges of treating opioid use disorder are not distributed evenly. Rural communities often face the same clinical challenges as other communities, but with fewer resources and much less room for something to go wrong.

In the tenth installment of the 2026 RECADEMY 12-part series, Kim Caudill, Senior Clinical Pharmacist/Director of Quality and Accreditations at St. Matthews Specialty Pharmacy, and David Hayden, Senior Vice President of Clinical Services at Spero Health, drew from their partnership experience to explore how they adapted care delivery to the realities of rural Kentucky.

Using one patient’s care journey as a case study, they examined the barriers that can make it difficult for individuals in rural communities to access and remain engaged in OUD treatment, and how coordination between a treatment provider and specialty pharmacy can help address those gaps. They also shared how their partnership has evolved over time, including a volume associated with this treatment model that increased 60% over two years.

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