Telehealth affecting treatment With in-person treatment at risk due to the coro- navirus, health care centers went remote in 2020. Katy Franklin, a substance use disorder counselor at Tri-County Behavioral Healthcare, said the tran- sition was difficult for patients. A federally qualified health care organization, Tri-County’s substance use disorder program serves 13 counties, including Harris and Montgomery counties. “It’s not the same level of care; you’re missing
“When you have a destabilizing event like a global pandemic, [vulnerabilities in health structures] become more evident,” Varisco said. At the beginning of the pandemic, Varisco said there was “some confusion” about what treatments were acceptable to prescribe. A 2020 memo from Phil Wilson, the Texas Health and Human Services executive commissioner, said buprenorphine could be prescribed virtually, but methadone required a face-to-face evaluation before the first dose could be provided.
CONTINUED FROM 1
relievers as drugs that were not as addictive as pre- viously thought in the late 1990s. As a result, these drugs, which had formerly only been prescribed to treat acute pain, became the prescription of choice to treat chronic, long-term pain. Tyler Varisco, a health services researcher with the University of Houston, described several underlying causes of substance use disorders that
the pandemic exacerbated, including patient access to treatment, increased financial stresses and isolation. “These are diseases of despair that we’re dealing with,” Varisco said. “When people are economically chal- lenged or psychologically
According to the SAMHSA, buprenorphine and meth- adone are Food and Drug Administration-approved drugs used to treat opioid use disorders.
“THIS CRISIS HAS EXPOSED CRACKS IN THE SYSTEMANDMADE THEMA LOTMORE EVIDENT.” TYLER VARISCO, A HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCHER AT THE UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON
“I don’t know if [the pol- icy] was well understood by providers, and that led to lapses in our treatment,” Varisco said. Prescription problems Varisco, who trained as a pharmacist at The Uni- versity of Texas, said unnecessary prescriptions and overprescriptions have yet to be addressed for pharmacy students. In 2020, a little more than one prescription was issued on average for every three residents in Montgomery County, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. How- ever, the dispensing rate has been cut in half since 2014, and from 2019-20, it declined 19%. “This crisis has exposed cracks in the system and
some things over Zoom that you wouldn’t in per- son,” Franklin said. “Treatment was less effective for this particular population.” Varisco said he believes the drastic changes to health care for individuals experiencing addiction undid the positive work done for patients before the pandemic. According to the Treatment Episode Data Set, which compiles national patient discharges from treatment for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, detoxification treatment discharges became less common from 2016-19, when detoxification discharges decreased from 20% of all discharges to 16%.
challenged as many of us have been over the past two years, we see increased vulnerability in our communities to opioid use and other forms of sub- stance misuse.” To address the opioid crisis, the state has invested over $200 million since 2017 into the Texas Targeted Opioid Response, a program directing Texans to resources for treatment, opioid disposal, and educa- tion on opioid use disorders and prescriptions. Mean- while, local municipalities, such as Conroe andWillis, are also set to receive funds from a $1.89 billion set- tlement with drug manufacturers won by the state, while emergency responders have implemented pro- grams to help fight the epidemic.
THURSDAY, APRIL 21 FROM 4 - 7 P.M. Celebrate Southern Nights at Worthington Manor! Enjoy appetizers and drinks, tours of our beautiful senior living community, raffle prizes, and more! Join Us at Our GRAND OPENING!
ASS I STED L IVING & MEMORY CARE
See Ya’ll There! RSVP TO (936) 888-2012
32
COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER • COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM
Powered by FlippingBook