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Tag: opioid use disorder
11/01/2023

From Ideas to Impact: Symposium on Digital Therapeutics

Article Excerpt: The Clinically-Validated Digital Therapeutics: Innovations in Scientific Discovery, Clinical Applications, and Global Deployment event convened health care leaders across academia, government, and industry at the Hanover Inn on Oct. 25. Hosted by the Center for Technology and Behavioral Health, the digital heath summit, now in its second edition, is the only one of its kind situated in an academic institution. Besides clinical and computer science researchers, it brings together diverse stakeholders—providers, regulators, payers, and investors, as well as representatives from global pharma—to create pathways for translating ideas in the space of digital health to impact. In her welcoming remarks at the event President Sian Leah Beilock emphasized the urgency in realizing the potential of digital health in tackling mental health issues and other areas of health care.

Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/ms3swwv3

Article Source: Dartmouth News

10/18/2023

Telehealth Supports Retention in Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder

Article Excerpt: Starting buprenorphine treatment for opioid use disorder through telehealth was associated with an increased likelihood of staying in treatment longer compared to starting treatment in a non-telehealth setting, according to a new study analyzing Medicaid data from 2019-2020 in Kentucky and Ohio. Published in JAMA Network Open, these findings add to a growing body of evidence demonstrating positive outcomes associated with the use of telemedicine for treatment of opioid use disorder.

Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/zdzcfn9k

Article Source: NIDA News

09/21/2023

Technology Fueled America’s Youth Mental Health Crisis, But It Can Help End It

Article Excerpt: Sian Leah Beilock is a cognitive scientist who is the new president of Dartmouth College, the first woman to hold that position since the school was founded in 1769. An expert in, among other things, the effect of stress on academic performance, she is starting her tenure by putting health and wellness at the center of her leadership agenda with a focus on the country’s youth mental health crisis…Substance abuse, which is both helping drive the mental health crisis and is drastically undertreated with nearly 90 percent of sufferers going without treatment, offers an example of the power of technology to provide clinical care in underserved areas or in cases in which stigmatization prevents people from seeking the help they need. Lisa Marsch and her team at the Dartmouth Center for Technology and Behavioral Health (CBTH) created and validated the first Food and Drug Administration-cleared digital therapeutic for the treatment of opioid addiction, which provides cognitive behavioral therapy interventions though the user’s digital device and has since helped roughly double rates of abstinence by lowering the threshold for access to treatment.

Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/4v4jkrwd

Article Source: The Washington Post

09/14/2023

‘They Won’t Rip Telehealth Away’: Digital Behavioral Health Companies Prepare for Industry-Shaping DEA Decision

Article Excerpt: November is fast approaching, and with it comes the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) proposed rule on telehealth and controlled substance prescribing. After a six-month delay, the federal law enforcement and regulatory body will release regulations that will shape the future of telehealth within behavioral health in the post-COVID era. It also has the potential to redirect the evolution of telehealth in the behavioral health industry. Companies that exclusively or heavily focus on providing care via telehealth have had to prepare for the potential snapback to a regulatory environment where in-person exams were required before a telehealth provider could prescribe certain controlled substances.

Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/abd4vzmn

Article Source: Behavioral Health Business

07/27/2023

One-Third of ACOs Use Digital Health Tools to Treat Patients With OUD

Article Excerpt: A new study of accountable care organizations (ACOs) suggests the use of digital health tools is relatively uncommon when treating patients with opioid use disorder (OUD). When digital tools are used, they are generally seen as a complement to other treatment modalities, according to the report, which was published this month in JAMA Network Open. Digital health resources have been billed as a way to overcome some of the traditional barriers to OUD treatment, such as lack of transportation and the limited availability of trained mental health clinicians. However, the study authors said public health officials need to be mindful of equity concerns as they roll out digital health solutions, “including understanding the clinical settings in which they are offered.”

Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/yc2tn65n

Article Source: AJMC

07/18/2023

The Role of Digital Health In Treating OUD

Article Excerpt: In a study recently published in the JAMA Network, researchers sought to investigate the use of patient-facing digital health technologies for OUD by organizations in the United States with ACO contracts. The search began as it was unclear whether these technologies serve as substitute or complements to traditional SUD treatment resources in health care organizations. According to researchers and authors of the study, medication and behavioral treatment for OUD is scarce. Many barriers make access to OUD treatment challenging, including transportation and limited numbers of mental health and SUD clinicians. Digital health technologies are suggested to have the potential to alleviate barriers and expand access to treatment for OUD patients.

Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/yjfu8ud2

Article Source: Managed Healthcare Executive

07/11/2023

Telehealth Proves Successful for Opioid Use Disorder Treatment

Article Excerpt: Virtual care provider Ophelia found 56% of its OUD patients remained in treatment for six months and 48% stayed for one year, with retention rates significantly higher than traditional in-person care…”These study findings help take another step forward in proving what we already know: telehealth-based medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorder is highly effective in reducing overdoses and preventing relapse,” (Chief medical officer at Ophelia) said.

Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/3z5umm7w

Article Source: Healthcare IT News

06/20/2023

Can Wearables Improve Outcomes Among Hospitalized Patients?

Article Excerpt: New research published in JAMA Network Open found that hospitalized patients using wearable devices had better physical activity levels and physical functioning as opposed to patients receiving standard care. Typically, hospitalized patients engage in limited levels of physical activity. This often leads to adverse health outcomes. However, the capabilities of wearable devices led researchers to examine their efficacy in boosting patient activity levels.

Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/2p9es8v3

Article Source: mHealth Intelligence

06/14/2023

Expanding Telemedicine For Opioid Use Disorder

Article Excerpt: Under the medical supervision of University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) Professor Eric Weintraub, MD, the mobile treatment team sees about 150 clients a month in Caroline County. With the addition of a second mobile unit, services will be extended to patients in neighboring Talbot County, and in the Chestertown area of Kent County… Weintraub, who is an associate professor of psychiatry at UMSOM, has helped develop innovative programs in providing medication assisted treatment to underserved rural areas via telemedicine across Maryland.

Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/26v9fu6e

Article Source: University of Maryland News