White House Backs Extension of Telehealth Addiction Treatment

Hazelden Betty Ford’s free, online social community, The Daily Pledge, provides a source of support and fellowship to those touched by or concerned about the disease of addiction. Our daily meditation books are available as apps on iOS and Android. Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation sees telehealth as a means to advance our mission by increasing access to more people who need help. It also increases longer engagement along our continuum of care to improve successful outcomes. Telemedicine technologies could alter substance use disorder treatment service delivery patterns and outcomes. Texting , videoconferencing , mobile apps , web-based treatment supports , telephone-based support , and use of virtual worlds have all been applied in SUD treatment settings.

A new study on the efficacy of telehealth services in addiction treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic found that telehealth may increase patient engagement. Investigators also found limited evidence of improved retention rates in telehealth compared with in-person treatment. All of our teletherapy providers are experts in their field and you can early, mid, and late stages of alcoholism choose a counselor that best suits your desired treatment style. However, laws are different according to every state and insurance company. Please follow ourinsurance verificationprocess to check if your insurance covers our treatment programs. Familiarize yourself with medication-assisted treatment and medication for opioid use disorder models.

How can I help my patients access quality alcohol treatment during the COVID-19

Below are samples of e-Health tools developed with NIAAA funding. Each has research base that demonstrates its potential to help people cut down or quit drinking. Stahre M., Roeber J., Kanny D., Brewer R. D., Zhang X. Contribution of excessive alcohol consumption to deaths and years of potential life lost in the United States. Jeyaraj A., Rottman J. W., Lacity M. C. A review of the predictors, linkages, and biases in IT innovation adoption research.

COVID-19 caused several significant changes in the way we do things. One major change was the way we interact with doctors and other medical professionals. Many doctors made the switch to telehealth to help keep patients safe.

This can include Skype or other video conferencing, phone calls, email, text message, or other digital communication. If you or a loved one are struggling with addiction, WebMD Connect to Care Advisors are standing by to help. “It may benefit folks who struggle to process emotions or struggle with emotional intimacy. Telemedicine gives them distance and a sense of safety to work through difficult topics,” Sabrina Romanoff, clinical psychologist and professor at Yeshiva University, shares with WebMD Connect to Care. Strengthening the patient-practitioner relationship through the promotion of shared and evidence-based decision-making.

Telehealth can help, but only if people have access

Through enhanced convenience, reduced travel time and cost savings, telemedicine offers additional benefits for patients, physicians and the greater health care system. CBT4CBTis an effective, interactive cognitive-behavioral therapy program that uses videos and exercises to teach seven skills to help people cut down or quit drinking. If you are a physician or licensed therapist, you can prescribe it for your patient or client and monitor progress.

An external advisory board approved all survey instruments applied and the individuals who conducted the data collection and interpretation for this manuscript had no affiliation with CHESS Mobile Health. Lastly, A-CHESS how to create a meaningful life in 7 days and make itself was not mentioned or referenced in this research. First, the data used in the analysis is based on self-report data. Hence, what is perceived as using a technology could differ from organization to organization.

Benefits of Choosing ChoicePoint’s Telehealth Addiction Treatment Program

Interestingly, both technologies represent opportunities to increase face-to-face clinical time with the patient. Computerized assessments reduce time needed to collect demographics and other background information, allowing counselors more time to discuss clinical issues. Texting appointment reminders has been found to reduce appointment no-shows ; higher show rates result in more clinical time with patients.

This could be because a staff person other than the clinician is often utilized to send the text or engage in the mobile app activities. Also, to gain access to the information generated by the mobile apps, clinicians typically need other staff to secure information from the mobile app server. In some cases, the electronic health record needs to be redesigned to integrate patient information from the mobile app into the traditional clinician workflows. Another observation was that “Low Tech” organizations were less likely than “Technology Traditionalists” and “Innovators” to use telephone-based recovery and therapy services. Of the technologies assessed, telephone services were the lowest tech services.

Cons of Telehealth Services

You also have to have a good, consistent connection to Wi-Fi or data. While many applications may seem easy to use, there is still a chance of not having the technical literacy to really benefit from this type of appointment. For those who don’t utilize technology on a regular basis, telehealth services can feel overwhelming.

The Navigator can help your patients or clients find some mutual support groups to consider. They can find more recovery support options in this list of online support groups, apps, and podcasts from the American Society of Addiction Medicine. See also the tips and tools on NIAAA’s Rethinking Drinking website.

When used in combination with other treatment methods, telebehavioral health interventions can be part of an integrated approach to treating substance use disorders. These interventions can include screening and diagnosis, online counseling, consults for prescriptions, and individual and group talk therapy. Treating substance use disorders via telehealth requires expertise and training in addiction care. Another benefit of using telehealth to treat your addiction is that it can allow you toavoid your triggers. If you are triggered to do drugs when you travel through certain areas or run into certain people, receiving your addiction treatment at home will allow you to avoid these triggers. By entrusting your addiction treatment with Transformations Treatment Center, you can receive treatment without having to endure an obstacle course of potential treatments to get to every appointment.

• Citing Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, the ONDCP report flags that telehealth visits jumped 50% between January and March 2020—the onset of the global pandemic— when compared with the same period for 2019.
• 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.
• On average, the difference between the percentage of organizations that had high interest and actual use was 37.32%, with over a third of the organizations having high interest in a technology, but not using it.

Telemedicine services increase access to service and can provide valuable support when patients are outside of the therapeutic setting and making decisions to use or not use addictive substances. Despite increased use of technology alcohol rehab and recovery information within society at large, adoption of video and mobile telemedicine technologies in SUD care was found to be 11]. Blumenthal & Tavenner found that electronic health record adoption rates were lowest in SUD services.

Greater Access for All

Recovering from addiction is a long journey that benefits greatly from support. Recovering from addiction can be surrounded by a lot of stigmas that keep individuals from being as open as they can about their journey. Some recovering addicts don’t even share what they are going through with their families. This can pose an additional challenge for a person to truly open up if they can’t get the privacy they need.

Bakk Z., Vermunt J. K. Robustness of stepwise latent class modeling with continuous distal outcomes. You deserve a therapist who “gets you” and treatment that meets your needs. The more selective you are in choosing your provider, the more likely your treatment is to be successful. At Silver Linings, we are committed to walking you through this difficult process and seeing you through to the end. When you or a loved one decide to seek treatment, this should not be entered into it lightly.