Opioid Overdoses Reduced by Telehealth

A newly published study finds that a surge of telehealth usage in patients with opioid use disorder during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic improved outcomes and reduced medically-treated overdoses. The investigators analyzed data from a pool of 176,000 Medicare patients, also finding that telehealth usage improved treatment adherence in patients.

According to Phil Taylor, “There were some discouraging points of data, however, most notably that some groups – in particular, non-Hispanic black persons and those living in the South – were less likely to receive telehealth services, exposing the divide in access to digital health within the US.”

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(Source: PharmaPhorum, September 5^th, 2022)