Physicians overwhelmingly in favor of permanent telehealth use in OUD treatment

Physicians overwhelmingly favor making telehealth a permanent part of their practice for opioid use disorder treatment, according to a recent survey.

“Telehealth legislation is currently an active regulatory space with at least 20 different bills being considered in congress at the federal level and much state-level regulatory activity as well,” Tamara Beetham, MPH, a PhD student at the Yale School of Public Health, told Healio. “Much is still undecided, and changes will likely turn out to be more of a patchwork of many smaller policies with a more targeted, narrow scope than a single, comprehensive federal policy.”

To determine how physician preferences and practices regarding telehealth in the treatment of opioid use disorder (OUD) changed during the COVID-19 pandemic, Beetham and colleagues conducted a nationwide survey of 1054 physicians (62% private or solo group practices; 17% freestanding clinics/urgent care centers; 16% hospital-based outpatient departments and five additional settings with less than 10% of the population) with the ability to prescribe buprenorphine. The survey was sent in July 2020 and consisted of 30 questions assessing the use and practice of telehealth for OUD buprenorphine treatment.

The findings, published in The American Journal of Managed Care, revealed that 85% of respondents were in favor of making telehealth for buprenorphine treatment permanent, with 68% strongly in favor. A total of 8% of survey respondents were opposed to the application of telehealth becoming permanent.

Telehealth use for buprenorphine rose from 29% prior to the COVID-19 pandemic to 66% in the early stages of the COVID-19 era, according to researchers.

“Annually, 75% to 90% of individuals with an OUD do not receive treatment, and two-thirds of those getting treatment do not receive medications such as buprenorphine for OUD,” Beetham and colleagues wrote. “This mass exposure and subsequent receptivity to technology adoption presents a unique opportunity that can be leveraged to expand treatment access.”

However, despite the indication of overwhelming physician support for the permanent implementation of telehealth in OUD treatment, Beetham and colleagues acknowledged the gradual state of the legislative process.

“I expect that telehealth availability will be higher than it was before the COVID-19 pandemic, but I do not anticipate that all of the temporary flexibility will be permanently implemented,” Beetham told Healio. “Rather, availability may end up differing quite a bit depending on factors such as the state a patient lives in and what type of insurance they have.”

References

• Beetham T, et al. Am J Manag Care. 2022;doi:10.37765/ajmc.2022.89221.
• Survey Shows Most Physicians Favor Allowing Telehealth to Treat Opioid-use Disorder. https://ysph.yale.edu/news-article/survey-shows-majority-of-physicians-favor-allowing-telehealth-to-treat-opioid-use-disorder/. Published Oct. 13, 2022. Accessed Nov. 4, 2022.