Scott G. Weiner , Amelia Burgess , Herman Singh , Emily N. Miller , Colleen Murphy , Elizabeth Chehregosha , Brian Clear
{"title":"Patient experiences with telehealth treatment for opioid use disorder in Alabama","authors":"Scott G. Weiner , Amelia Burgess , Herman Singh , Emily N. Miller , Colleen Murphy , Elizabeth Chehregosha , Brian Clear","doi":"10.1016/j.josat.2024.209451","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Introduction</h3><p>Telehealth-only provision of buprenorphine for the treatment of opioid use disorder (OUD) was first made possible during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, Alabama instituted a law in July 2022 that mandated an annual in-person visit in order to receive this treatment. In July 2023, our usually telehealth-only group established a temporary clinic in Birmingham to meet this requirement.</p></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><p>The study administered a survey instrument to patients at the time of clinic check-in.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>158 of 160 (98.8 %) patients completed the survey. Mean distance traveled was 86.4 (standard deviation (SD) 53.7) miles; time required for travel was mean 1.6 (SD 1.0) hours. Twenty-five patients (15.8 %) reported needing to find childcare to attend the visit and 40 patients (25.3 %) reported missing work to attend. Patients disagreed (median 2 on 1–5 Likert scale, interquartile range (IQR) <1–3>) that it is important to see their provider in-person, that seeing their provider in-person improves care or improves their ability to succeed in treatment, and that they have other OUD treatment resources in their community. Patients strongly agreed (median 5, IQR <5–5>) that OUD can be treated by telehealth without the need for an in-person visit.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>An annual in-person visits requirement to receive telehealth OUD services imposed a significant burden on patients, was not desired by patients, and may be associated with harm.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":73960,"journal":{"name":"Journal of substance use and addiction treatment","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of substance use and addiction treatment","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2949875924001632","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, CLINICAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Introduction
Telehealth-only provision of buprenorphine for the treatment of opioid use disorder (OUD) was first made possible during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, Alabama instituted a law in July 2022 that mandated an annual in-person visit in order to receive this treatment. In July 2023, our usually telehealth-only group established a temporary clinic in Birmingham to meet this requirement.
Methods
The study administered a survey instrument to patients at the time of clinic check-in.
Results
158 of 160 (98.8 %) patients completed the survey. Mean distance traveled was 86.4 (standard deviation (SD) 53.7) miles; time required for travel was mean 1.6 (SD 1.0) hours. Twenty-five patients (15.8 %) reported needing to find childcare to attend the visit and 40 patients (25.3 %) reported missing work to attend. Patients disagreed (median 2 on 1–5 Likert scale, interquartile range (IQR) <1–3>) that it is important to see their provider in-person, that seeing their provider in-person improves care or improves their ability to succeed in treatment, and that they have other OUD treatment resources in their community. Patients strongly agreed (median 5, IQR <5–5>) that OUD can be treated by telehealth without the need for an in-person visit.
Conclusions
An annual in-person visits requirement to receive telehealth OUD services imposed a significant burden on patients, was not desired by patients, and may be associated with harm.