Can Telehealth Can Help With Addiction Treatment?

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, trends show some increased interest in use of telehealth services by both HCP and patients. However, recent policy changes during the COVID-19 pandemic have reduced barriers to telehealth access and have promoted the use of telehealth as a way to deliver acute, chronic, primary and specialty care. Many professional medical societies endorse telehealth services and provide guidance for medical practice in this evolving landscape. While telehealth has many perceived benefits for addiction recovery, there are also some disadvantages of using telehealth for addiction recovery services. The pandemic put telehealth services on a fast track, and it has only been a few years since it rose as a popular option. This means that time will only tell what real place telehealth has for addiction recovery.

• A new study on the efficacy of telehealth services in addiction treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic found that telehealth may increase patient engagement.
• Patients can continue treatment with their regular therapist or provider while receiving at home or in-person treatment.
• Virtual worlds had a higher percentage of high interest (35.54%), but a low percentage of actual use (.55%).
• Telemedicine applications can potentially broaden access to SUD information, services, and support.
• We are not only offering telehealth therapy options to our current patients, but we are thrilled to extend these benefits to the uninsured or those otherwise unable to afford or find an effective treatment.
• The American Psychological Association has assessed teletherapy and has found clients to be as engaged online as they would be in the office setting.

Rules around telehealth medical appointments were relaxed during the COVID-19 pandemic in order to allow more patients to get care without having to go into a physician’s office. Web-based behavioral treatment for substance use disorders as a partial replacement of standard methadone maintenance treatment. The overall average high interest in all the technologies listed in Table 2 was 37.10%. The percentage use of the different technologies was less than the percentage of high interest in their use. Virtual worlds had a higher percentage of high interest (35.54%), but a low percentage of actual use (.55%). Computerized screening assessments had a high percentage of high interest (69.7%) with an actual use of 44.63%, the highest among the technologies assessed.

Is Addiction Treatment Delivered by Telehealth Effective?

The effects of the virus have forced us to reevaluate our treatment plans and reconsider secondary options as primary. However, we have seen that the increase in requests for teletherapy has NOT coincided in increased numbers of relapse or decrease in harmful use of alcohol therapeutic success. Only licensed professionals can safely offer teletherapy in any form. While guidelines are still being set, in general, effective teletherapy can be offered by anyone with a license to practice mental health therapy in-person.

Similarly, they noted that there may be more challenges in gauging patient progress and providing personal connectedness needed by patients with substance abuse disorders. Additionally, while inpatient treatment options can be comfortable for some, in many cases, people become too dependent on the medical staff to stay sober. Usingtelehealth for your addiction treatmentallows you to remain in the driver seat as you navigate through the various aspects of addiction treatment. Therefore, you will not have to readjust as much once you are no longer enrolled in the addiction treatment program.

And encourage your patients or clients to use the Navigator to choose quality care that’s backed by science. In the White House’s new push for broadening telehealth access, the office also suggests bolstering funds for mobile app services. But it warns that privacy and ethics need to be considered during a telehealth expansion, given that certain requirements for providers were waived under the public health emergency.

Virtual Services

While these resources are still available online through platforms such as Zoom, it can still pose a challenge to developing real personal connections. Telehealth relies heavily on the person’s ability to be present and focused during their appointments. It may feel impersonal to some who benefit from physically being near the person they are speaking with. A lot of this relies on both the provider and patient being able to communicate the same way as they would in person, such as maintaining eye contact and using body language that expresses engagement. Telehealth provides ease of access that helps create a situation where there is less likelihood of missing an appointment. Travel, expenses, and work tend to be the biggest excuses for missing appointments, and Telehealth removes these factors from consideration, leaving little excuses for people to miss their appointments.

Silver Linings Recovery Centers is committed to maintaining privacy and HIPPA compliance. We have chosen a video conferencing method that is both effective and safe. While there may be a learning curve or some awkwardness at first, we believe the benefits of our telehealth options outweigh the risks. It is also good practice to contact your insurance provider to discuss what may or may not be covered.

There are many benefits to telemedicine, but it has become the go-to during this pandemic. This is due to its ability to allow patients to seek the treatment they need without the risk of in-person contact. Benefits of telehealth services can make it an even more compelling route to recovery. Holistic addiction treatment program that can help to treat addiction but will put you on a path to achieve lifelong sobriety.

Is telehealth treatment as successful as in-person treatment?

In general, there should be some level of mental health/telehealth coverage in your plan-particularly if it is offered through your employer. Employers are finding it increasingly beneficial and cost-effective to provide for the mental health of their employees. If cost is an issue, you should check with your insurance provider to see what, if any, mental health treatments they cover. Thankfully, more and more providers are offering telehealth coverage than ever before. Online databases, such as Psychology Today, provide comprehensive lists of providers and the insurance they accept. Both telehealth and telemedicine refer to providing healthcare services via technology.

Missing appointments can jeopardize the success of a person’s recovery, so having easy access with little chance of interference can make a huge difference. Watanabe said it is vital to ensure more people can access treatment for drug misuse. It’s possible to create a “telehealth care team” by combining a therapist with a board certified physician for medication support.

Several telemedicine technologies have emerged to augment traditional treatment approaches, with many supported by research evidence . Counselors understand and appreciate the need to connect with patients between appointments how to avoid alcohol withdrawal . Similarly, patients want the safety net of support and community that digital technologies can provide. One of the top benefits of usingtelehealth to treat addictionis that it allows you to save time.

Depending on what specific insurance companies decide, certain telehealth services might not be covered through insurance, making the cost completely out of pocket. When working through addiction, a lapse in support could result in a lapse of sobriety. Not having to go to can alcoholics drink in moderation a specific location for care, therapy, or meetings can feel appealing to many individuals going through addiction recovery. However, having to remain home can feel unappealing to individuals who may not be able to achieve the same level of security or privacy at home.

1. Study Aims

Patients have access to providers who understand substance use disorder and are not judgmental. An initiative in Maryland provided buprenorphine to more than 300 rural Marylanders. A chart review by Weintraub et al. showed that 59 percent of patients remained in treatment after three months and 94 percent of those patients still engaged in treatment at three months no longer used opioids illicitly. Americanaddictioncenters.org needs to review the security of your connection before proceeding. “Telehealth also provides easy access to group or individual therapy from the person’s place of choosing which reduces barriers of time or distance. It also reduces anxiety of having to go to an unfamiliar place,” Connors adds.

The Butler Center for Research at the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation investigates these and other questions and publishes its scientific findings in a variety of alcohol and drug addiction research papers and reports. Dr. Bhalavat’s background includes treatment of depression, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia spectrum disorders, bipolar disorder, substance abuse and dementia. Telehealth can cut costs with childcare, travel, and missed work, but it can end up costing more for some through the actual appointments. This means that many insurance companies had to make quick assessments and judgments as to whether telehealth appointments would be covered the same way in-person appointments are. There is also childcare to consider, especially for individuals who may not have the additional support at home.

Second, organizations could vary in their interpretations of the definitions of the different technologies. For example, a web portal for one organization could be simply a web page, while for another, it could be a secure portion of a webpage that allows secure exchange of clinical information. In addition, this sample only represented eight of the 50 United States. The results from the technology implementation concerns assessment ranged from 2.62 to 3.90 on the 5-point Likert Scale, with 5 being critical, 4 being very high, and 3 being a high concern . Information security was the highest concern, with a 3.9 score (representing “very high” concern), and patient attitude towards the technology was the lowest concern, with a 2.62 score (representing a “high” concern). The results from both the organizational implementation readiness and implementation concerns assessments will be compared to the LCA groupings described in the following section.

In short, using telehealth foraddiction treatmenthelps you to stay connected to a team of professionals 24/7, 365. According to the LCA analysis, those in the “Innovator” organizations were more likely to use texting and mobile app technologies than those in the “Technology Traditionalist” and “Low Tech” organizations. This difference may be based on Innovators having the greater staff and departmental cooperation needed to implement these technologies.

You can help them put together a care plan that combines some or all of these choices. Absolutely, our telehealth services deal with alcohol and drug addiction treatment while prioritizing your mental health. You can also check ourdual diagnosis treatment programthat is specialized in treating mental health along with substance addiction.

In general, depending on where you live, you will have to spend time and effort just to get to the office for treatment. In certain areas, commuting to a substance abuse treatment center may take hours and in certain remote areas, there are no treatment centers available at all. This may serve as a deterrent from getting your much-needed addiction treatment and can also cause you to be late or even miss appointments. Luckily, telehealth eliminates the need to commute altogether and allows you to focus on the most important thing, overcoming your addiction. In the interviews, participants reported that the relative benefits of telehealth are dependent on the individual patient’s circumstances. However, participants also acknowledged that in-person treatment may still be preferable for some patients, such as those who are homeless or isolated, those with attention challenges, and those uncomfortable with technology.