He was prescribed Vicodin after getting his wisdom teeth removed at age 15, he says, which jumpstarted an addiction he’s battled for nearly two decades.
Ophelia is now in the company of other local Centers of Excellence that offer telehealth services for opioid use disorder, including JADE Wellness Center on the South Side and Gateway Rehabilitation Center in Greentree. “At the federal level, there’s great support” for telehealth, said Wilson Compton, deputy director of the National Institutes on Drug Abuse. “Whether this can continue is not clear.”
Patients often connect when they’re on a lunch break, noted Allison Berneking, Lewis’ clinician and Ophelia’s regional clinical director. Lewis, who lives in Lackawanna County, often took calls while walking through the countryside, she said. Jody Glance, medical director of addiction medicine services for UPMC Western Behavioral Health, also conducts telehealth services for people with substance use disorders, and has seen benefits from the approach.
“We’ve been able to talk with patients about things that might not otherwise come up if the visit was not at home,” she said. “You get to know more about their personal life outside of what they might bring into the doctor’s office.” The most significant barrier to successful prescribing of medication for opioid use disorder through telehealth has actually been stigma, say some providers.Despite these barriers, telehealth providers recognize the benefit to their patients — and the risk of ceasing the option.