Opioid related deaths in the United States have risen during the COVID-19 pandemic. Infact it is believed that isolation leads to addiction and increases its severity. At present the country is facing natural disasters, increase in unemployment, social distancing, thus, an opioid crisis can be fatal during these times. 

Dr. Stephen Loyd the former head of Tennessee's Department of Substance Abuse Services stressed in the PBS Newshour podcast that the opioid crisis, which was already a pandemic prior to coronavirus epidemic is getting worse as more people are turning to drugs.

Dr. Loyd said that by using telehealth he is able to see patients in their home environment but, it’s a fact that the overdose rates have increased.

Telehealth can assist healthcare providers to be continuously in touch with opioid and substance abuse patients. Timely help can prevent further health complications.

Dr. Miriam Komaromy, the medical director of the Grayken Center of Addiction at Boston Medical Center believes that people are overwhelmed with grief, loneliness, poverty and this leads to an increase in substance use. With new stressors adding in, more overdoses are bound to happen. 

Increasing opioid-related drug overdoses are quite evident and obvious to people in the front lines, fighting addiction. 

Encouraging the use of telehealth:

Clinicians and public health experts know that telehealth can lend a helping hand to patients suffering from substance abuse. Thus, they have asked the federal government to bring permanent changes in telehealth policy so that access to care for patients suffering from substance abuse becomes better. 

Recently in a blog in Health Affairs, the Buprenorphine Telehealth Consortium requested the Health and Human Services Secretary to waive off the need for having an in-person examination for emergency treatment during the pandemic. 

This waiver can let providers to utilize telehealth to know if the patient is undergoing treatment for substance abuse and prescribe buprenorphine, which is a medication for opioid used to treat addiction. 

Since the pandemic has been spreading rapidly in the U.S., the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has taken quick steps. The CMS expanded Medicare to allow all beneficiaries irrespective of the location, to get access to telehealth services allowing clinicians to continue treatment for patients as they strictly follow social distancing guidelines. 

CMS eased the requirements for a variety of providers conducting psychotherapy, emergency response and radiation therapy management to utilize and expand telehealth services. 

So how has this impacted the patients?

This has resulted in approximately 10 million people with Medicare using telehealth services since the pandemic hit the country through early-July in comparison with only 14,000 beneficiaries availing telehealth services per week before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lifecycle Health assists healthcare providers in catering to their patients suffering from substance abuse and makes its contribution to combating the growing opioid crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Patients, nurses and healthcare providers strongly recommend it to help with following and monitoring patients. 

Some of the major features that are most relevant during these times of COVID-19:

HIPAA compliant and secure:

Information privacy is prime to substance abuse patients and we realize its importance thus, our video conferencing facilities are HIPAA compliant and secure. 

We stress on HIPAA compliant video facility by enabling encryption of all communication for telehealth video and messaging. This ensures securing all patient data with no extra IT costs.

We also provide secure telehealth messaging facility. 

Immediate assistance:

Patients say that they like it when the doctor knows how they are doing, through video visits. . It is easy and makes them feel safe and comfortable. When patients need immediate help and guidance, healthcare professionals can use Lifecycle Health's secure telehealth video, secure messaging, SMS communications, and virtual check-ins as a way to remotely monitor and manage patients.

Healthcare professionals are able to diagnose potential risks and patient issues earlier and intervene quicker without disrupting the care path.

Patient-friendly:

Lifecycle Healthcare provides a seamless experience to the patient and provider. They can share images, pictures, messages and annotate during key visits. It is mobile-friendly, SMS enabled and 90% patients recommend it.

Providers and patients can collaborate seamlessly. Multi-patient and multi-provider meetings are possible. There is a provision to record video visits that are automatically connected to the patient record. 

Unique solutions:

Lifecycle Health offers unique solutions during these difficult times. These solutions are not restricted to video conferencing. We have a provision for reminder notifications, fixing appointments, making notes and all of this is mobile-friendly. 

We have created a system that allows the patient to call and create an appointment, offloading the workload from your staff, which is burdened unnecessarily with administrative tasks. Accessibility improves for patients, and providers can cater to more patients.

Lifecycle Health is contributing to healthcare by reaching out to patients during these testing times. Get in touch with our team to know more about our work and how we can extend a helping hand.