# Telemedicine for Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder

> **NIH NIH R01** · HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL · 2024 · $792,888

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY: A key challenge in combating the opioid epidemic has been connecting individuals
with opioid use disorder (OUD) to evidence-based treatments. Telemedicine for opioid use disorder (“tele-
OUD”) may be part of the solution. Use of tele-OUD grew rapidly during the pandemic and, in the first four
years of this R01, we have made substantial progress in understanding its role in OUD treatment. To date, we
have published 24 studies that examine a range of issues related to tele-OUD. These studies describe the
growth of tele-OUD, examine the impact of the policy environment on tele-OUD use, assess the quality of tele-
OUD, document disparities in tele-OUD use, and describe how clinicians are trying to address those
disparities.
However, key gaps in knowledge on the use of tele-OUD remain. We are proposing a renewal of our grant that
uses data from Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial insurance, plus national pharmacy claims. Our Aims are
to: 1) characterize clinicians who are using a fully-virtual model to treat OUD and compare clinical outcomes
between virtual-only clinicians and other clinicians; 2) assess the role and quality impact of audio-only
telemedicine for OUD treatment; and 3) identify trends in the number of pharmacies that dispense
buprenorphine and assess the impact of pharmacy dispensing decisions on patient outcomes.
The results from this project will inform provider use of tele-OUD as well as ongoing policy debates at the
federal and state levels and among private health plans on payment and regulation of tele-OUD and its role in
improving access and quality of care for individuals with OUD.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10983574
- **Project number:** 2R01DA048533-05
- **Recipient organization:** HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL
- **Principal Investigator:** HAIDEN A. HUSKAMP
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $792,888
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 2019-07-01 → 2028-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10983574

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10983574, Telemedicine for Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder (2R01DA048533-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10983574. Licensed CC0.

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