An examination of telehealth policy impacts on initial rural opioid use disorder treatment patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Purpose: Tracking changes in care utilization of medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) services before, during, and after COVID-19-associated changes in policy and service delivery in a mixed rural and micropolitan setting.

Methods: Using a retrospective, open-cohort design, we examined visit data of MOUD patients at a family medicine clinic across three identified periods: pre-COVID, COVID transition, and COVID. Outcome measures include the number and type of visits (in-person or telehealth), the number of new patients entering treatment, and the number of urine drug screens performed.