# Evaluating the Usability, Efficacy and Commercial Utility of a Digital Platform to Deliver Comprehensive Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder

> **NIH NIH R44** · BOULDER CARE, INC. · 2022 · $673,318

## Abstract

7. PROJECT SUMMARY
Opioid use disorder (OUD) is a problem of national concern. Medication-based treatment (MT) reduces opioid
use, associated risk behaviors and death. Despite evidence supporting MT with buprenorphine, in more than ½
of US counties (mainly rural), there are no prescribers. Patients travel long distances, join waitlists, or go
without MT. Other barriers to care include lack of transportation, competing demands (work, childcare) and
stigma. Combined, lack of access and barriers leaves millions without treatment. Our innovative solution
(Boulder) is a telehealth-based treatment solution offering long-term support for OUD. Our vision is to deploy
care teams (Prescribing Clinician, Nurse Coach, Care Advocate and Certified Peer Coach for each patient) to
deliver a comprehensive array of services, supervised by addiction specialists with decades of experience.
Technology enables us to effectively scale a program that meets all of NIDA's guidelines for appropriate
oversight, and provides low-barrier, patient-centered interventions (e.g. video medication monitoring and
private (at home) random observed saliva drug testing. The long-term goal of this proposal is to build a
scalable solution able to reach patients who are unable to access evidence-based treatment. Our digital
program promises to dramatically improve the patient experience, boosting patient retention, satisfaction,
medication adherence, and functional outcomes by providing low barrier, quality care. The patient-facing
product is developed. In preliminary testing, patients reported high satisfaction, engagement, and usability, and
access to care was increased by 38% in three months. The overall objective is to evaluate the ability of a
virtual platform to create the necessary paradigmatic shift in OUD treatment. To achieve this objective, we
propose the following aims: Phase I, Aim I: Advance Boulder's mobile platform development and obtain
patient feedback; Phase II, Aim II: Determine Boulder's impact on patient engagement, program retention,
access to care, and care continuity; and Phase II, Aim III: Determine Boulder's impact on opioid use and
patient functional status. Purchasers of our product (e.g. private/commercial/governmental payors, at-risk
provider groups, etc.) who provide remuneration on a per-patient, per-month basis, realizing substantial cost
savings through our integrated services. Unlike typical fee-for-service care delivery, our economic model aligns
incentives around delivering superior patient outcomes. The virtual OUD treatment product's end-users are
resource-constrained patients who will access care no cost to them. Technology enables our team of medical,
behavioral, and social service providers to bring comprehensive telehealth-based care for the longitudinal
management of addictive disease directly to the patient, rather than bringing the patient to the care. The
research team includes staff and affiliates of Boulder, the Addiction Research and Educ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10380909
- **Project number:** 5R44DA050354-03
- **Recipient organization:** BOULDER CARE, INC.
- **Principal Investigator:** Stephanie Papes
- **Activity code:** R44 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $673,318
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-09-30 → 2024-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10380909

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10380909, Evaluating the Usability, Efficacy and Commercial Utility of a Digital Platform to Deliver Comprehensive Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder (5R44DA050354-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10380909. Licensed CC0.

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