therapist, social worker, case manager, et al. The company has rolled out its program in Northern California’s Solano County, which comprises 435,000 residents. “The theory behind what we’re doing,” explains Haddick, “is that patients are far more likely to answer questions honestly talking to a computer than to a person. People self-censor themselves all of the time. They will say, ‘Oh, I don’t want to bother the doctor with my little worries’ – and, as a result, physicians don’t help them.
“Patients are far more likely to answer questions honestly talking to a computer than to a person. People self-censor themselves all of the time.” “These questions are educational in nature. But when you put them all together, it indicates the interest the doctor has in you as a person. The opportunity to give this information to the physician in a concise format becomes very life-affirming, and it leads to a much better relationship.” Other digital health platforms are queuing up to enter the treatment pipeline. For example, Seattle-based WEconnect, which has devised an addiction recovery app, recently raised $6.05 million in an initial round of venture capital investment. Some, such as SmartTab, sound more akin to science fiction than
science, not uncommon with past technologies that became reality. Developed by Denver-based Veloce Digital, SmartTab is a wireless medication delivery system whereby a patient ingests a trackable smart pill that allows him or her to trigger its release – via smartphone, smart watch or computer in a clinical setting – at a chosen time and at a spot in his/her body where it will be most effective. This way, doctors can monitor a patient’s compliance with his or her drug regimen, an imperative factor in treating opioid addiction. And consider the growing interest in mood forecasting, an even more futuristic-sounding concept: Doctors constantly recording data from a person wearing a sensor that communicates with a mobile device, information that could uncover possible mental illness, particularly depression, which is often associated with substance abuse. These kinds of technologies will be necessary to meaningfully reign in the nation’s appalling number of opioid casualties, whose rate of annual increase, according to preliminary data from the Centers for Disease Control, showed signs of declining in late 2017 and early 2018, attributable to apparent decreases in overdose deaths from heroin and prescription painkillers (but not synthetics). For his part, inRecovery’s David Sarabia has already begun to gaze into the near future, fashioning a five-year plan that not only will steer an addict onto the path that best addresses his or her specific problem, but also dramatically lower costs. Opioid treatment, he points out, now comes with an exorbitant price tag – anywhere from $30,000 to $60,000 per month. “It’s not a right,” he contends, “it’s more of a privilege.” If you don’t have a high-paying job or comprehensive insurance or a pocketful of discretionary cash, he adds, “you’re pretty much screwed.”
To decrease costs, Sarabia envisions inRecovery working with other treatment providers to gather all existing data to create the strongest intelligence possible to understand what works and what doesn’t for each individual. And he wants inRecovery to lead the way in establishing a more scientific approach to assessing levels of addiction risk. As part of that effort, the company has partnered with Boulder-based SomaLogic to conduct a clinical study to discover the protein signatures – the biological markers – of addiction risk. At the present time, a person’s propensity for addiction is determined through a psychosocial evaluation – a conversation with a clinician – without a biological component. Addiction treatment, he hopes, will begin at the retail pharmacy level, where a person undergoes a scan to ascertain his or her level of risk. A low-risk client would qualify for remote treatment via telemedicine, costing a nominal amount. For highrisk clients, he explains, “inRecovery will have worked with so many treatment providers that it can guide you in the right direction: Say, ‘This is the best treatment for you, based on thousands of patients who have similar profiles.’” By intervening early, he adds, “We can save a patient’s life.”
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