Share of sufferers receiving outpatient deal with opioid use dysfunction by the use of telehealth and/or in individual, through payer standing, 2019–2021. Credit score: Well being Products and services Analysis (2024). DOI: 10.1111/1475-6773.14414
Sufferers with opioid use dysfunction enrolled in Medicaid had been much less more likely to obtain telehealth care after the COVID-19 pandemic, in comparison to sufferers with personal insurance coverage, in line with a contemporary Northwestern Medication find out about printed in Well being Products and services Analysis.
Opioid-related overdose deaths within the U.S. reached an all-time excessive within the closing a number of years, with greater than 100,000 connected deaths reported in 2022 through the Nationwide Institute on Drug Abuse.
Whilst the popularization of telehealth care right through the COVID-19 pandemic steered larger entry to deal with sufferers with opioid use dysfunction, few research have tested care entry for Medicaid sufferers who would possibly revel in limitations to telehealth care, mentioned Melinda Xu, a first-year scientific scholar and a co-author of the find out about.
“Telehealth has been proven to handle important limitations to having access to opioid use dysfunction remedy similar to kid and circle of relatives care duties, commute occasions and prices, and stigma from most of the people and well being care execs. Then again, telehealth has limitations of its personal similar to entry to high-speed broadband, a running pc and excessive ranges of technological literacy, elements which might be much more likely to problem the ones with decrease source of revenue than the ones with upper source of revenue.
“Prior studies have focused on the use of telehealth for opioid use disorder treatment for either of these groups but not comparatively,” Xu mentioned.
Within the find out about, Xu analyzed digital well being information amassed from January 2019 via December 2021 from sufferers recognized with opioid use dysfunction who had touch with the Northwestern Medication well being care machine.
Xu discovered that whilst Medicaid sufferers had been much more likely to obtain telehealth care in comparison to privately insured sufferers ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic, Medicaid enrollees had been 43.7% much less most likely than privately insured sufferers to obtain any opioid use dysfunction remedy after the pandemic.
The findings recommend the upward thrust of telehealth would possibly widen disparities in deal with Medicaid sufferers and underscore the will for long run telehealth insurance policies to handle those gaps in opioid use dysfunction remedy, in line with Xu.
“For example, the 2024 final rule aligning 42 CFR Part 2 with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act can enhance confidentiality protections and improve care coordination for substance use disorder patients, supporting equitable telehealth access. Addressing these disparities through targeted policy interventions can improve health outcomes and ensure telehealth benefits all populations equitably,” Xu mentioned.
Additional information:
Lindsay D. Allen et al, Telehealth and disparities in opioid use dysfunction remedy: Medicaid enrollees as opposed to privately insured folks, Well being Products and services Analysis (2024). DOI: 10.1111/1475-6773.14414
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Medicaid sufferers battle with telehealth entry for opioid remedy post-pandemic (2025, January 29)
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