“Some respondents said virtual visits help reduce the stigma of substance abuse disorders.”
Why this is important: Research and anecdotal evidence have identified many barriers to addiction recovery. Among those barriers are accessibility barriers (Is treatment available nearby?), transportation barriers (Does the patient have the means to get to the facility?), financial barriers (Can the patient afford treatment or is the patient sufficiently insured?), stigma (Are there societal or personal pressures that discourage treatment for a particular patient?), and many others.
Telemedicine seems to lessen several barriers to care, not the least of which are stigma and transportation, allowing patients to access providers in relative privacy. Telemedicine, however, is not without its own barriers or challenges.
First, certain types of addiction treatment require at least some in-person patient encounters because certain types of drugs commonly used in addiction medicine either cannot be prescribed via telemedicine or the ability to prescribe the drugs is limited in the telemedicine context. Similarly, certain types of drugs require frequent visits to providers because certain types of drugs are not able to be dispensed at a pharmacy in the way that most people are accustomed to. Thus, even aside from the provider encounter, the patient must regularly report in person just to receive medication. To complicate matters further, these drugs are regulated at the federal, state, and sometimes local level.
Second, certain types of treatment offer more comprehensive services than just patient encounters with physicians. By now, most people have heard of medication-assisted treatment or “MAT”, which is just that – treatment that is assisted by medication. MAT is a comprehensive addiction treatment model that has a more wholistic approach to addiction treatment. MAT facilities frequently offer these services in one location for the convenience of patients. Thus, a patient exclusively using telemedicine would not necessarily receive the benefit of the full treatment regime at a MAT facility.
In sum, the research seems to have demonstrated (perhaps predictably) that telemedicine removes barriers of stigma to treatment, but limitations on the prescription and dispensing of certain drugs used in addiction treatment inherently limit the use of telemedicine. When utilized, it must be at the discretion of the provider and, therefore, depends on the circumstances of the particular patient. As attorneys in the healthcare industry, it is critical to advise healthcare clients in order to maintain regulatory compliance while recognizing their goals of delivering effective healthcare to vulnerable patient populations. --- Joel P. Jones, Jr.
Congress Must Update FDA Regulations for Medical AI
