National Institutes of Health granted University of California Los Angeles more than $28 million to spearhead two studies on telehealth-based treatments for opioid addiction in rural America.
The grants will be distributed over five years and both are part of the NIH's Helping to End Addiction Long-term Initiative.
The first study, which has been awarded $25 million in funding, will take place at more than 40 primary care clinics across the U.S. and will analyze how telemedicine helps solve treatment barriers such as long travel times to clinics in rural areas.
The second study will use the remaining $3.3 million from NIH to explore the use of text messages as support for opioid addiction treatment. Researchers will analyze whether using text messages to deliver cognitive behavioral therapy will help patients stick to their opioid treatment medication regimens.