An examination of telehealth policy impacts on initial rural opioid use disorder treatment patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

Tracking changes in care utilization of medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) services before, during, and after COVID-19-associated changes in policy and service delivery in a mixed rural and micropolitan setting.

Methods

Using a retrospective, open-cohort design, we examined visit data of MOUD patients at a family medicine clinic across three identified periods: pre-COVID, COVID transition, and COVID. Outcome measures include the number and type of visits (in-person or telehealth), the number of new patients entering treatment, and the number of urine drug screens performed. Distance from patient residence to clinic was calculated to assess access to care in rural areas. Goodness-of-Fit Chi-Square tests and ANOVAs were used to identify differences between time

SUBMITTER: Hughes PM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8250742 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature