Hometown Health Center in Dexter, Maine, will conduct a clinical trial to determine whether telehealth services effectively treat rural opioid addiction patients.
The health center is partnering with Bright Heart Health, an online treatment service for patients with opioid use disorder or eating disorders, to provide 24/7 telehealth treatments. It plans to offer a full range of opioid use disorder treatment to patients involved in the study, complete with appropriate prescriptions, without the need to travel after the initial referral meeting.
HHC has started gathering patients for the study by screening patients for substance use during their appointments. The study is led by UCLA and funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.