Bicycle Health is America’s #1 telehealth provider of medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD), offering an evidence-based clinical care model that includes Medications for Addiction Treatment (MAT), access to a highly-trained team of medical experts, therapy, a customized treatment plan, and peer support groups.
Bicycle Health’s mission is to address the country’s most severe public health crisis by providing access to affordable, convenient, and confidential tele-MOUD treatment for individuals in need and helping to reduce stigmas associated with opioid addiction
Through our research, and others, we’ve been able to show that:
Bicycle Health is easy for patients to use;
Bicycle Health delivers high-quality clinical outcomes;
Bicycle Health’s proprietary, virtual urine drug screening has a lower falsification rare than in-person programs (<3%)
For patients with opioid-use disorder, we work hard with leaders in Washington DC, and at the state level to ensure access to qualify, affordable care.
Ample research has shown that allowing access to buprenorphine via telemedicine, during the pandemic, reduced the rate of opioid-related overdoses, ER visits and deaths, and did not increase the rate of buprenorphine misuse. How will making the process more difficult improve patient outcomes?
Addiction medicine is a high-demand specialty. Telemedicine democratizes access to these specialists, so what is the value of making a general practitioner with little or no expertise in addiction medicine a gatekeeper to this form of specialty care?
The DEA’s proposed rule ignores the cost to patients of having an additional in-person exam, the cost of transportation, childcare, time off of wor, and how those impact a person in recovery. Would the in-person requirement disproportionately impact access to care for lower-income patients who already struggle to afford care?
If a patient or provider misses a scheduled in-person appointment for any reason and the appointment can’t be rescheduled within the 30 day window, the proposed rules don’t permit exceptions for any reason. Understanding that people with OUD have a high likelihood of relapse, overdose and death if their medication runs out, is this reasonable?
There is no evidence to support the DEA’s assumption that in-person care is more thorough than telemedicine. There is evidence that telemedicine care is more effective than in-person for most patients with OUD. The new rules mandate a less effective form of care, from a generally less specialized provider, with no evidence of benefit to offset the expense and potential harm. Why?
The data is clear that buprenorphine-involved deaths did not increase despite wider access to telemedicine OUD care during the pandemic, according to research published in JAMA in January of 2023. Can DEA support their assumption in the rule that telemedicine increases risk of diversion or misuse of buprenorphine?
There is ample research showing that patients who stop buprenorphine for OUD after just 30 days return to opioid use. One example is this 2009 study that showed 87 percent of OUD patients who tapered off of buprenorphine over a 28-day period returned to other opioid use within just three months.
We are committed to building innovative solutions for our patients, partners and employees together.
We are intentional about the decisions and actions we take, by considering the diverse perspectives and experiences of all walks of our community.
We are a team that gets back on the bike. We strive to be better every day by learning and iterating and making progress towards our goals.
We are upfront about our intentions and we are honest about progress (and when there is a lack of progress).
We are a team that is accountable to goals and drives demonstrable impact every day.
