The powerful pairing of telemedicine and opioid addiction treatment

The tech world is constantly on the hunt for a new killer app. The traditional definition¹ of a ‘killer app’ is the software or service so appealing that consumers will buy hardware to gain its benefits, but increasingly, a killer app is defined by its ability to deliver a service that was all but impossible in the recent past. For instance, the late Steve Jobs launched the iPhone² in 2007 by saying, “The killer app is making calls!” 

Of course, the former head of Apple was focused on the phone’s traditional function at launch. Today, however, smartphones assist with many different aspects of our lives, including powering telemedicine and its potential to achieve successful outcomes for patients facing opioid addiction. Effective treatments are more important than ever, as opioid addiction and overdoses have surged during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A staggering 100,000 Americans died from opioid overdoses in the past 12 months,³ a figure that will undoubtedly continue growing unless needed care reaches more individuals struggling with addiction. Fortunately, modern advances in smartphone technology and video conferencing software set the stage for telemedicine to enter the fight against this scourge. In this emerging and unique application of telemedicine, it’s crucial to tackle a central question: what treatment can be paired with medicine to deliver the best patient outcomes?

Intensive study by QuickMD provided a clear answer to how cutting-edge innovation combined with MAT, or medication-assisted treatment, might address the life-or-death issue of opioid-use disorder.⁴ When the “M” in MAT refers to Suboxone – as is the case with QuickMD’s TeleMAT platform – providers can help ease patients’ withdrawal symptoms while reducing the cravings patients feel for opioids. Suboxone (the most popular brand name of buprenorphine + naloxone)⁵ doesn’t provide a high, meaning patients can go about their daily lives even while in active treatment. Accordingly, our team developed TeleMAT based on three key factors:

Suboxone has been proven to be a benign medication, making it an appropriate drug to prescribe through telemedicine. Due to the opioid-receptor blocking effect of buprenorphine, Suboxone also has a much lower potential for abuse than methadone, the legacy treatment for opioid addiction. While methadone is better known, it is a Schedule II controlled substance⁶ that’s unlikely to be approved for telemedicine.

A killer app isn’t just an application running on the latest tech; it must influence how we think about a product or service. Telemedicine-enabled MAT has disrupted traditional MAT by removing constraining factors. In short, TeleMAT can reach anyone in America by virtue of its digital accessibility. Once upon a time, MAT was hindered by the lower number of doctors trained in its application as well as limited geographic availability. Patients can now reach a doctor to begin their recovery journey from the comfort of their home or the privacy of their car. 

Physicians and patients alike reacted favorably to TeleMAT in early trials of the service, giving the combination of telemedicine and MAT rave reviews. Patients found they could easily reach a caring doctor without the social stigma of an in-person visit to an addiction clinic. At the same time, physicians discovered they could provide an equal — or even superior — standard of care without sacrificing anything beyond the brief time needed to become familiar with the tech. Bolstered by the ease of use, even more physicians are now being enrolled to practice TeleMAT, telemedicine’s killer app for the war against opioid addiction.

In the time it took you to read this article, multiple patients were connected to their physician via QuickMD’s TeleMAT service. Whether they are in the middle of ongoing successful MAT treatment or are taking the first steps toward recovery, they’re overcoming opioid abuse, one of the greatest problems facing America today. If you are a physician wishing to help users overcome addiction and live their ideal life, or you are an investor interested in being part of the TeleMAT solution to our crisis, please contact QuickMD today.

Jared Sheehan is the Chief Operating Officer at QuickMD. He is a serial entrepreneur who has worked at the intersection of social impact and technology for the last decade. He has deep healthcare experience. Jared is the winner of the FDA Naloxone App Competition.

QuickMD is a leading telehealth company that provides affordable urgent and family care as well as teleMAT (Medication-Assisted Treatment) to the public. Schedule a visit with our team of highly trained doctors today.