ArticleThe Journal of rural health : official journal of the American Rural Health Association and the National Rural Health Care Association2021
An examination of telehealth policy impacts on initial rural opioid use disorder treatment patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Article in The Journal of rural health : official journal of the American Rural Health Association and the National Rural Health Care Association, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
29 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Telehealth Use and Health Equity for Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review.Telemedicine journal and e-health : the official journal of the American Telemedicine Association · 2024Pooled it
- Nurse Care Management of Opioid Use Disorder Treatment After 3 Years: A Secondary Analysis of the PROUD Cluster Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2024Trial
- Rurality weakens the positive association between the COVID-19 pandemic and substance use treatment involving medications for opioid use disorder.Drug and alcohol dependence reports · 2026Article
- Geographic and Policy Factors Influence Telehealth Availability for Substance Use Disorder Treatment.The journal of behavioral health services & research · 2026Article
- Telemedicine-delivered treatment for substance use disorder: A scoping review.Journal of telemedicine and telecare · 2025Article
- Telehealth and disparities in opioid use disorder treatment: Medicaid enrollees versus privately insured individuals.Health services research · 2025Article
- Article
- Patient Engagement in Providing Telehealth SUD IOP Treatment: A Retrospective Cohort Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Patients' and Clinicians' Experiences with In-person, Video, and Phone Modalities for Opioid Use Disorder Treatment: A Qualitative Study.Journal of general internal medicine · 2024Article
- Rural and urban clinician views on COVID-19's impact on substance use treatment for individuals on community supervision in Kentucky.Health & justice · 2024Article
- Retention in Telehealth Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder Among Rural Populations: A Retrospective Cohort Study.Telemedicine journal and e-health : the official journal of the American Telemedicine Association · 2023Article
- Differences in medicaid expansion effects on buprenorphine treatment utilization by county rurality and income: A pharmacy data claims analysis from 2009-2018.Drug and alcohol dependence reports · 2023Article
- Care coordination between rural primary care and telemedicine to expand medication treatment for opioid use disorder: Results from a single-arm, multisite feasibility study.The Journal of rural health : official journal of the American Rural Health Association and the National Rural Health Care Association · 2023Article
- Urine Drug Screening in a Telehealth Setting for the Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder.JAMA health forum · 2023Observational
- The Future of the United States Overdose Crisis: Challenges and Opportunities.The Milbank quarterly · 2023Article
- When a Straight Line Is Not the Most Direct Method: an Evaluation of Straight Line Versus True Distance Metrics for Patients in Rural Settings.The journal of behavioral health services & research · 2023Article
- Multidimensional assessment of access to medications for opioid use disorder across urban and rural communities: A scoping review.The International journal on drug policy · 2023Article
- COVID-19 preparedness and response in rural and remote areas: A scoping review.PLOS global public health · 2023Article
- Use of Telehealth for Opioid Use Disorder Treatment in Safety Net Primary Care Settings: A Mixed-Methods Study.Substance use & misuse · 2023Article
- Telemedicine along the cascade of care for substance use disorders during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeTracking changes in care utilization of medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) services before, during, and after COVID-19-associated changes in policy and service delivery in a mixed rural and micropolitan setting.
methodsUsing a retrospective, open-cohort design, we examined visit data of MOUD patients at a family medicine clinic across three identified periods: pre-COVID, COVID transition, and COVID. Outcome measures include the number and type of visits (in-person or telehealth), the number of new patients entering treatment, and the number of urine drug screens performed. Distance from patient residence to clinic was calculated to assess access to care in rural areas. Goodness-of-Fit Chi-Square tests and ANOVAs were used to identify differences between time periods.
findingsTotal MOUD visits increased during COVID (436 pre vs. 581 post, p < 0.001), while overall new patient visits remained constant (33 pre vs. 29 post, p = 0.755). The clinic's overall catchment area increased in size, with new patients coming primarily from rural areas. Length of time between urine drug screens increased (21.1 days pre vs. 43.5 days post, p < 0.001).
conclusionsThe patterns of MOUD care utilization during this period demonstrate the effectiveness of telehealth in this area. Policy changes allowing for MOUD to be delivered via telehealth, waiving the need for in-person initiation of MOUD, and increased Medicaid compensation for MOUD may play a valuable role in improving access to MOUD during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.