Bicycle Well being, a digital care supplier for individuals with opioid habit that historically serves adults, launched a brand new program for teenagers in Maine on Tuesday.

Bicycle Well being, based mostly in Boston, presents habit remedy medicines, entry to medical consultants, remedy and peer assist teams. It serves sufferers in 32 states and works with most main insurance policy, together with UnitedHealthcare, Aetna and Blue Cross Blue Defend.

The corporate’s new digital adolescent care program in Maine will serve teenagers ages 16 and up. They have to be accompanied by a mum or dad or accountable grownup for his or her first go to. In the event that they qualify for care, they’ll have entry to Bicycle’s scientific assist providers, together with medicines for opioid habit, similar to FDA-approved buprenorphine. This remedy may help with withdrawal signs and scale back drug cravings.

Look after adolescents is tailor-made to the person affected person, mentioned Dr. Brian Clear, chief medical officer of Bicycle Well being.

“Bicycle Well being bases its care suggestions on the wants of particular person sufferers and present state-of-the-art habit medication tips and analysis,” Clear mentioned in an electronic mail. “This stays the case for sufferers ages 16 and 17 on this program, who’re handled based on the suggestions for adolescents with [opioid use disorder].”

Sometimes, adolescents with opioid habit are handled utilizing a “stepped method,” with many starting their remedy in residential packages which can be based mostly on abstinence, Clear mentioned. Nonetheless, these packages have a excessive relapse price. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends medicines similar to buprenorphine for treating teenagers with extreme opioid habit.

To gauge the success of the brand new program in Maine, the corporate will research enrollment charges, affected person and supplier suggestions, and affected person retention. Bicycle Well being can be monitoring these metrics for the grownup inhabitants, Clear mentioned.

Bicycle Well being selected to launch this system in Maine as a result of suppliers within the state had been telling the corporate in regards to the want for any such remedy, he famous. In 2019, 10% of Maine highschool college students reported misusing prescription painkillers. A 2023 survey discovered that about 5.2% of Maine highschool college students had taken a prescription drug with out a physician’s prescription up to now 30 days.

Clear added that the corporate is contemplating increasing its providers for adolescents to different states.

“We hope that this program can be a profitable blueprint that we are able to construct on to increase entry for adolescents scuffling with [opioid use disorder]”, mentioned Clear.

Finally, treating adolescents in Maine is “simply one other step” in Bicycle Well being’s mission to fight the opioid epidemic, Clear mentioned.

“Our purpose with this program is to make protected and efficient OUD remedies simply accessible to adolescents who want the service,” he mentioned. “Many adults scuffling with OUD at the moment can see threat behaviors or addictive patterns that started in childhood; these issues can persist and worsen for years or many years earlier than they’re addressed, however they’re treatable at any age. We hope that packages like this, which assist sufferers start their restoration earlier, will assist forestall the worst results of OUD for extra individuals throughout the nation.”

Different firms providing digital habit remedy embrace Ophelia and Boulder Care. The latter additionally has a program for adolescents. In January, Boulder introduced it could supply telehealth and drugs administration providers to eligible Washington teenagers coated by UnitedHealthcare Group Plan, a Medicaid plan.

Picture credit score: Bohdan Skrypnyk, Getty Photos