Reduced Healthcare Resource Utilization in Patients with Opioid Use Disorder in the 12 Months After Initiation of a Prescription Digital Therapeutic.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

reSET-O, an FDA-authorized prescription digital therapeutic (PDT) delivering cognitive behavioral therapy and contingency management to patients with opioid use disorder (OUD), may help improve clinical outcomes. One-year differences in healthcare resource utilization (HCRU) and costs post-PDT initiation were evaluated.

METHODS

Retrospective analysis of healthcare claims data compared all-cause HCRU (across hospital facility encounters [sum of inpatient stays, treat-and-release emergency department [ED] visits, partial hospitalizations, and hospital outpatient department visits] and clinician services [procedure categories]) after PDT initiation (index) between reSET-O patients and controls. Overall and Medicaid-specific differences in HCRU, costs, and buprenorphine adherence were evaluated.

FINDINGS

Cohorts included 901 reSET-O patients (median age 36 years, 62.4% female, 73.9% Medicaid) and 978 controls (median age 38 years, 51.1% female, 65.4% Medicaid). Compared to the control group, the reSET-O group experienced 12% fewer total unique hospital encounters (non-significant), driven by 28% fewer inpatient stays (IRR 0.72; 95% CI 0.55-0.96; P = 0.02), 56% fewer hospital readmissions [IRR 0.44; 95% CI 0.20-0.93; P = 0.033]), and 7% fewer ED visits (IRR 0.93; 95% CI 0.79-1.09; P = 0.386). Total clinician services increased by 1391 events versus controls. Differences were greater among the Medicaid patients. Adjustment for concomitant baseline substance use and mental health disorders resulted in similar HCRU incidence rate ratios. Changes in all-cause HCRU drove per-patient per-year cost differences of - $2791 versus controls (- $3832 versus Medicaid controls). Adjusted mean medication possession ratio was 0.848 (SE 0.0118) at 12 months for reSET-O patients, which was significantly higher than controls (0.761 [SE 0.0108]; P < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Use of reSET-O is associated with significant and durable real-world reductions in ED and inpatient (including readmissions) utilization, reduced net costs, and increased clinician services and buprenorphine adherence. Differences in costs versus controls were greatest among Medicaid patients. INFOGRAPHIC.