The recently passed federal funding for infrastructure improvements signals a boon for healthcare providers and will expand access to care via telehealth. Once an ancillary functionality, telehealth is now a critical component for delivering patient care and the bill’s funding will expand the reach of high-speed internet, improving access for patients at a time when more rely on internet connectivity for their healthcare than ever before. However, as a board-certified physician in
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Opioid Epidemic | EPCS | News, Analysis, Insights
Learning from Financial Fraud Detection to Tackle Opioid Abuse Amid COVID-19
Despite falling from its prominent place in the headlines, America’s opioid crisis is still raging. Anxiety, stress, depression, and isolation caused by the pandemic have contributed to substance use disorders. At the same time, the Drug Enforcement Administration has loosened prescribing restrictions, including waiving the requirement for in-person visits and allowing clinicians to prescribe controlled substances via telemedicine alone. Given these conditions, it is not surprising that over
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Bicycle Health Raises $27M for Virtual, Evidence-Based Opioid Use Disorder Treatment
What You Should Know: - Bicycle Health, a Boston, MA-based virtual care provider of evidence-based treatment for opioid use disorder, today announced a $27 Million Series A investment led by Questa Capital with participation from City Light Capital, Emily Melton and previous investor SignalFire. - In addition, Bicycle Health is announcing national in-network insurance coverage from UnitedHealthcare, Aetna, Medicare and Medicaid in select states, helping to make
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Groups Recover Together Nabs $60M for Value-Based Care Platform for Opioid Addiction Treatment
What You Should Know: - Groups Recover Together (Groups), a national leader in value-based care for opioid addiction treatment, today announced it has raised $60 million in Series C financing. Oak HC/FT led the round, joining existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners, Transformation Capital, RRE Ventures, Optum Ventures and Kaiser Permanente Ventures. - The latest financing will support the expansion of Groups’ treatment model from locations in 12 states to at least 17 states by the end
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VA Taps Appriss for Drug Monitoring to Curb Substance Abuse
What You Should Know: - The Department of Veteran Affairs is working with
Appriss Health to tackle the veteran opioid epidemic via drug monitoring. - The tool will give VHA prescribers more complete clinical information, including controlled substance prescription histories, for patients, helping clinicians identify and prevent prescription drug misuse, resulting in better-informed care decision-making and improving patient safety. Appriss
Health, a provider delivering
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VA Announces First Cerner EHR Go-Live at Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center
What You Should Know: - Cerner today announced the historic and successful
first deployment of a modern EHR at Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center in
Spokane, WA. - The go-live marks the first time in history three federal departments (VA, DOD, and USCG) are using the same EHR. Cerner Corporation today
announced the historic and successful first deployment of a modern electronic health record
(EHR) at Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical
Center in Spokane, WA. The go-live marks the first
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FDA Grants AppliedVR Breakthrough Designation for Virtual Reality Chronic Pain Treatment
What You Should Know: - FDA awards AppliedVR Breakthrough Device designation for
treating treatment-resistant fibromyalgia and chronic intractable lower back
pain - AppliedVR’s EaseVRx program helps patients learn self-management skills grounded in evidence-based cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) principles and other behavioral methods. AppliedVR,
a pioneer advancing the next generation of digital medicine, today announced
its EaseVRx product received Breakthrough Device designation
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Social Distancing: Addiction Recovery Programs Go Virtual for COVID-19
We have been following the social distancing guidelines for two weeks now with more weeks to go. One population that truly needs and is literally prescribed social interaction is that of Substance Use Disorder (SUD). In fact, the 12 step (recovery approach) community, relies on being social wherein attending group meetings to share experience, strength, and hope is a part of the proven philosophy. Turns out, social distancing while helpful with the COVID-19 crisis is creating another one;
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Norton Healthcare Fights Opioid Epidemic with PDMP Integration in Epic EHR
- Norton Healthcare, a health system serving patients in Kentucky and southern Indiana, is now deploying Appriss Health technology to integrate its prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP) with its Epic electronic health record (EHR). - The solutions enable Norton Healthcare providers to share PDMP information across state lines and provide advanced analytic insights to improve opioid stewardship and help identify, prevent and manage substance use disorder in patients. - This is helping to
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4 Digital Health Tools for Combating Opioid Addiction in 2020 & Beyond
The human and economic statistics surrounding the opioid epidemic are staggering. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 11.4 million people have misused prescription opioids, and more than 130 people die daily from opioid-related drug overdoses.Moreover, the Society of Actuaries found that the total economic burden of the opioid crisis in the United States from 2015 to 2018 was at least $631 billion. The organization attributed nearly one-third of that cost to extra
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