Let me explain: Remission rates for substance addictions are much lower than those of other chronic illnesses, such as diabetes or heart disease. After a 12-month period, other chronic illnesses have a 50-60% remission rate, whereas for addictions it's under 10%. If they do reach the 50-60% remission rate, it will take them an average of 17 years.1
So, what’s missing in the addiction field and what do we do about it? The biggest problem is that we aren’t assessing and managing addictions the same as we do with other chronic illnesses. The addiction field is following a one-size-fits-all paradigm and barely tapping into the research to find real enduring answers. Continuity of care is almost completely absent as compared to that of other chronic conditions.
With this in mind, we developed a tool that would innovate the paradigm of addiction assessment and treatment, and create parity with every other chronic illness. (Healthcare providers, please partner with us by joining our free pilot.)
Here are some things to consider: Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) is helping many people. However, a 7-year study of nearly 50,000 patients compliant with their Buprenorphine medication, showed that in 12-months, the commercial insurance populations had a 30% drop in overall healthcare costs, while those on Medicaid showed no significant change.2
Why? For starters, let’s look at the role of social determinants of health (SDOH). People with commercial insurance are more likely to have consistent healthcare, support systems, places to live, and other resilience resources that aid them in their recovery. Those with Medicaid are more likely to be under-resourced, have under-treated health issues, and limited resilience resources. This means that for this population, medication alone most likely isn’t enough to improve their overall health.
Sadly, 2020 had a record high 80,000+ overdose deaths in the US (an 18% increase). Without assessing the person’s lifelong risk factors and SDOH, including current resilience resources, we will continue to be challenged by elevated addictions, co-morbid illnesses, poor remission rates, and deaths, and be unlikely to change the trajectory of this runaway disease.
Compris' assessment includes a full range of biopsychosocial factors for differing social determinants, co-morbidities, and resilience resources. Our completely automated, transformative assessment is risk- and resilience-informed, includes optimal vs safe level of care, targeted treatment, and measured resilience progress. It was designed to be accessible to anyone with internet access or a smart phone, takes 5-minutes to administer, 10-20 minutes for patients to complete, and delivers results to providers immediately upon completion. This is especially important with the pandemic and increased incidence of addiction and telehealth alternatives.
For healthcare providers, please join our pilot. It won’t cost you anything and we believe you will find value in it, plus you would be helping the addictions field get a handle on this illness by collecting real data. We know we’re addressing an enormously challenging area and we think our tool can help a lot of people.
Those suffering with addictions deserve to have the same standard of care as every other chronic illness. Plus, don’t you think 17 years of revolving door treatment is way too long?
Be healthy,
Thank you.
Joyce and Calvin McGinn
Ronquest N.A., Wilson, T.M., Montejano, L.B., Nadipelli, V.R., Wollschlaeger B.A. (2018). Relationship between buprenorphine adherence and relapse, health care utilization and costs in privately and publicly insured patients with opioid use disorder. Substance Abuse and Rehabilitation. Volume 2018:9 Pages 59—78. https://www.dovepress.com/relationship-between-buprenorphine-adherence-and-relapse-health-care-u-peer-reviewed-article-SAR
Fleury, M., Djouini, A., Huynh, C., et al (2016). Remission from substance use disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, (8):625-638