Study finds gaps in opioid use disorder treatment during COVID shutdowns
In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, visits to the doctor declined dramatically. One group of patients that appears to have weathered this trend are those who were already being treated for opioid use disorder. With an increase in telehealth visits, these patients continued to see doctors and get prescription refills at a relatively stable rate, according to a new study led by researchers at Harvard Medical School published Dec. 15 in
JAMA.
Still, the researchers note, their analysis found significantly fewer people beginning new courses of medicine to treat opioid use disorder in 2020, compared with the same three-month period in 2019, suggesting that some of those who needed to initiate medication treatment did not do so. Another alarming finding was that there was less urine testing across all patients established and new alike during the early months of the pandemic.
E-Mail
In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, visits to the doctor declined dramatically. One group of patients that appears to have weathered this trend are those who were already being treated for opioid use disorder. With an increase in telehealth visits, these patients continued to see doctors and get prescription refills at a relatively stable rate, according to a new study led by researchers at Harvard Medical School published Dec. 15 in
JAMA.
Still, the researchers note, their analysis found significantly fewer people beginning new courses of medicine to treat opioid use disorder in 2020, compared with the same three-month period in 2019, suggesting that some of those who needed to initiate medication treatment did not do so. Another alarming finding was that there was less urine testing across all patients established and new alike during the early months of the pandemic.
This article is part of Harvard Medical School’s
of medicine, biomedical research, medical education and policy related to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and the disease COVID-19.
In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, visits to the doctor declined dramatically. One group of patients that appears to have weathered this trend are those who were already being treated for opioid use disorder. With an increase in telehealth visits, these patients continued to see doctors and get prescription refills at a relatively stable rate, according to a new study led by researchers at Harvard Medical School published Dec. 15 in
Still, the researchers note, their analysis found significantly fewer people beginning new courses of medicine to treat opioid use disorder in 2020, compared with the same three-month period in 2019, suggesting that some of those who needed to initiate medication treatment did not do so. Another alarming finding was that there was less urine testing across all pati