Telehealth Supports Opioid Use Disorder Patient Retention in Treatment

Published in the American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, new data shows that patient retention rates following the implementation of telehealth for opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment were higher than those for in-person care.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 2.7 million people in the US have OUD, and overdoses appeared to have increased during the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, the pandemic allowed physicians to explore new methods of providing care, including telehealth. To assess the efficacy of treating OUD through telehealth, a digital provider of medication-assisted treatment (MAT), Ophelia Health, conducted a study that assessed patient 180-day and 365-day retention rates.

The study was conducted between April 2021 and September 2022 and included 1,378 patients who received telehealth-enabled OUD treatment. Of these patients, 21.2 percent resided in rural areas, and 78.8 percent lived in urban areas. Additionally, 58.1 percent were from Pennsylvania, 41.9 percent were from New York, 58.8 percent were male, and their mean age was 35.6.

The overall 180-day treatment retention rate was 56.4 percent, which fell to 48.3 percent among those studied for the full 365 days.

Before beginning the study, researchers noted their hypothesis that retention levels would be lower among racial and ethnic minorities, as well as rural residents. But, they found that the retention results for telehealth-based MAT for OUD were consistent across patients of different races and residency locations.

They also noted that retention levels exceeded those of previous studies focusing on in-person treatment for OUD.

"Living in a healthcare desert, lacking financial resources or grappling with stigma should not be barriers to getting life-saving treatment for opioid use disorder," said Arthur Robin Williams, MD, chief medical officer of Ophelia Health, in a press release. "These study findings, published by a widely respected addictive disorder journal, are 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."

Although previous studies have indicated the benefits associated with MAT, researchers stated that factors such as transportation, confidentiality concerns, and costs often prevent patients from obtaining treatment. Telehealth, however, may help address these hurdles. 

Previous research has supported the use of telehealth for OUD, showing its connection with positive treatment results.

As described in November 2022 in NEJM Catalyst, a program from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania known as CareConnect used telehealth to provide OUD patients with assistance in accessing care.

Launched in November 2021, CareConnect allowed Penn Medicine researchers to assess and prescribe buprenorphine to OUD patients virtually. After examining the period between the program's inception and September 2022, researchers found that 89 percent of participants filled their first buprenorphine prescription, and 55 percent continued a preexisting prescription for the medication at least 30 days following engagement.