The article explores how artificial intelligence (AI) is currently used — and could be used — in the field of addiction research and treatment. The authors note that AI (machine learning, data mining, predictive analytics) offers substantial promise to enhance our understanding of substance use disorders (SUDs), support early detection, improve personalised interventions, and potentially improve outcomes for people with addiction. 

At the same time, the paper carefully outlines multiple challenges and limitations that must be addressed:

• Data quality and representativeness: Many existing...

Background

The COVID-19 emergency has tested the public health, medical, and public safety infrastructure of the United States (U.S.) in unprecedented ways. As the focal point for public health in their communities, local health departments (LHDs) were particularly impacted by the pandemic’s onset. The pandemic limited the scale and scope of local health department (LHD) work, redirecting resources to the response. However, the need for essential public health services—including substance use prevention—was not reduced.

Methods

Six quantitative data sources were examined, collected between...

Background 

In the United States, access to buprenorphine remains low and disparities regarding who receives treatment have emerged. Federal laws have regulated buprenorphine delivery, ultimately limiting its implementation more broadly. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, federal agencies acted quickly to remove a legal barrier, effectively allowing people with opioid used disorder (OUD) to initiate buprenorphine treatment via telemedicine. Leveraging this policy shift, a low barrier buprenorphine treatment initiative via telemedicine was started at syringe service programs in California...

Abstrak

Telemedicine (TM) yang dimungkinkan oleh teknologi kesehatan digital untuk menyediakan layanan medis telah dianggap sebagai solusi utama untuk meningkatkan akses perawatan kesehatan di masyarakat pedesaan. Dengan kebutuhan mendesak akan perawatan jarak jauh karena pandemi COVID-19, banyak sistem perawatan kesehatan dengan cepat memasukkan teknologi digital untuk mendukung pengiriman opsi perawatan jarak jauh, termasuk perawatan obat untuk individu dengan gangguan penggunaan opioid (OUD). Dalam menanggapi krisis opioid dan pandemi COVID-19, pejabat kesehatan masyarakat dan komunitas...

Abstrak

Tujuan: 

Pertemuan tatap muka adalah komponen kunci dari dukungan beasiswa Twelve Step (TS) terhadap pantang anggota. Kurungan di rumah selama COVID-19 membuat ini kurang layak. Tujuan kami adalah untuk memastikan apakah transisi ke pertemuan online virtual di antara anggota TS terjadi, dan apakah itu berpotensi efektif.

Metode: 

Dua ribu seratus lima puluh dua anggota lama Narcotics Anonymous (NA) AS disurvei untuk memastikan pengalaman terkait pemulihan mereka dan hubungannya dengan transisi ke pertemuan virtual.

Hasil: 

Selama minggu sebelumnya (yaitu, 'selama COVID-19')...

Abstrak

Telehealth telah menjadi bagian yang semakin penting dari pemberian layanan kesehatan, dengan peningkatan dramatis dalam kunjungan telehealth selama pandemi COVID-19. Kunjungan telehealth akan terus menjadi bagian dari pemberian perawatan setelah pandemi mereda, dan penting bagi mahasiswa kedokteran untuk menerima pelatihan keterampilan telehealth untuk memenuhi kompetensi telehealth yang muncul. Makalah ini menjelaskan strategi untuk berhasil mengintegrasikan mahasiswa kedokteran ke dalam kunjungan telehealth dalam pengaturan rawat jalan berdasarkan literatur yang ada dan...

Supporting Access to Telehealth for Addiction Services: Regulatory Overview and General Practice Considerations

The purpose of this document, which was put together by the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM), is to provide guidance to addiction treatment providers and programs on the regulatory and general practice issues related to the use of telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This Clinical Guidance (“Guidance”) is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is intended to offer physicians guidance regarding best practices in caring for and treating patients...

The Addiction Technology Transfer Center (ATTC) Network, the Center for Excellence on Protected Health Information (CoE-PHI), the National Consortium of Telehealth Resource Centers, and the Center for the Application of Substance Abuse Technologies (CASAT) at the University of Nevada - Reno (UNR) partnered to develop this new top tips series.

The 8-part top tips series has been developed for substance use disorder (SUD) treatment providers and peer-support specialists faced with transitioning their services to the use of telephone and videoconferencing methods in response to COVID-19 social...

In the shadow of COVID-19, telehealth has been pushed to the forefront of service delivery. Everyone is working rapidly to establish quality telehealth systems to replace face-to-face therapeutic encounters with clients.

But for some services, like Turning Point’s Directline, which began operations over 30 years ago, and Counselling Online, the 24 hour web- based counselling service for people concerned about their AOD use, the telehealth experience is ‘business as usual’. These services have an established history of connecting clients to health care providers. Both clinicians and...

Evidence has shown that individuals released from prison are at greater risk of drug overdose in the first 2 weeks post-release compared to the general population. After a period of relative abstinence, the tolerance of people who use opioids is greatly reduced and, as a result, they are at particularly high risk of overdosing if they resume use.

In order to support this particularly vulnerable group of people, the National Institute of Health is developing a new telehealth intervention. To learn how to better prevent relapse and overdose, researchers are testing ways to connect inmates with...