The following should be considerations as the clinical
schedule of the mobile health program is developed:
• Reliability/consistency—It is recommended that clinical
schedules include regular visits to the same sites no
less than once per week. This consistency allows for
patients and clients to understand when and where they
may access services, especially if they have received
MOUD and seek regular refills. Many patients served
by the program are likely to be facing instability in
their lives and would benefit from knowing the van will
reliably arrive to the same location at the same time.
• Maximize convenience—Timing of clinics should
be such that the target population is available and
accessible. Understanding from local stakeholders
or from your own organization’s data/observations/
experience when people with SUD are most likely to
be near a clinical site may be helpful in determining
the times of clinics, though understanding that clinical
hours may be restricted to business hours.
• Flexibility—In addition to regularly scheduled clinical
sessions, the mobile health program should also
consider leaving flexibility in the schedule to respond to
emerging public health crises. In order to accommodate
such flexibility, the mobile health program should
consider the following strategies:
– Don’t over-commit the mobile unit—If the mobile
health program schedules some time for the van to
be offline, this will allow for flexibility to add clinical
sessions and locations to the existing schedule
should the need arise.
– Start with a small number of sites—Focusing efforts
on a small number of sites and including multiple
sessions at some sites can allow the program
increased flexibility. Should data indicate emerging
needs in other areas, the mobile unit could repurpose
or redirect services offered at a site with multiple
scheduled sessions to a new site without entirely
abandoning a clinical site. The decision to completely
eliminate a site from the clinical schedule should be
made only after extensive consideration has been
made for existing patients at that site and the team
has considered plans for continuation of necessary
care and services