Addiction medicine during COVID-19

<p dir="ltr">"The rapid change-over to telemedicine in March of 2020 brought predictable challenges to health care at large and substance use disorder treatment in particular: patients without the skill set to navigate HIPAA-compliant apps, phones with too little smarts to handle video conferencing, lack of connectivity in rural and economically depressed areas. But telemedicine brought unexpected benefits: the no-show rate plummeted. Patients were more empowered by their own motivation to engage in care than limited by bus schedules’ vagaries. Suboptimal face-to-face interactions among individuals in the throes of addiction (otherwise known as “mayhem in the parking lot”) ceased immediately.</p> <p dir="ltr">Most of all, telemedicine mitigates the stigma associated with substance use treatment."</p> <p dir="ltr"><a href= "https://www.bicyclehealth.com/team-members/julie-craig-md" target= "_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Julie Craig</a> is an addiction medicine specialist.</p> <p dir="ltr">She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "<a href= "https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2020/12/telemedicine-reduces-the-stigma-in-substance-use-disorder-patients.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Telemedicine reduces the stigma in substance use disorder patients</a>." (<a href= "https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2020/12/telemedicine-reduces-the-stigma-in-substance-use-disorder-patients.html">https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2020/12/telemedicine-reduces-the-stigma-in-substance-use-disorder-patients.html</a>)</p>