At the completion of this activity, participants will:
Appraise how asynchronous video recording and secure medication dispensers can increase dosing integrity
Describe the barriers people have to overcome to receive methadone or buprenorphine at an OTP in rural areas and the travel costs and time saved with this novel approach
List the benefits to their patients by using this technology and ensure the safe ingestion of methadone or buprenorphine in potentially high risk situations such as induction phase dosing, ongoing drug use, or diversion concerns.
Presentation Summary: This novel project combined the use of secure medication dispensers with a Smartphone app to video medication ingestion. We enrolled 58 patients (41 on methadone and 17 on buprenorphine) and measured time and money saved on travel to the clinic in a combined urban/rural part of Vermont. Of the 15,581 videos received only 1 showed evidence of medication diversion. 94% of patients were not eligible for take homes at the time of the project and at the end of 1 year, 98% of people were still in treatment, 93% were engaged in prosocial activities, and cost savings were seen.
