After launching a collaboration in 2023 to supply digital opioid use dysfunction help to these transitioning out of prisons, Bicycle Well being, Wellpath and the Federal Bureau of Prisons (FBOP) have signed a further one-year contract with the choice to increase one other two years.
Boston-based Bicycle Well being is a digital supplier of opioid use dysfunction, whereas Nashville, Tennessee-based Wellpath is a medical and psychological well being supplier that serves weak sufferers, together with those that are in prisons and jails.
By the collaboration, Wellpath works with FBOP’s residential reentry facilities and may refer these fighting opioid use dysfunction to Bicycle Well being. Residential reentry facilities assist individuals transition again into society after incarceration.
“This new contract underscores the impression of this program for lately launched adults in custody,” stated Wendy Dunegan, vp of Wellpath, in a press release. “We’ll now be capable of supply Bicycle Well being’s digital MOUD care mannequin to this affected person inhabitants nationwide, increasing entry to modern, results-driven look after a inhabitants very accustomed to the damaging results of opioid use – and the difficult path towards restoration.”
Bicycle’s providers embrace remedy, peer help teams and drugs for opioid use dysfunction, which might help with withdrawal signs, forestall overdose and help long-term restoration. The corporate additionally has specialised care coordinators who’re skilled to work with these leaving incarceration and solely work with Wellpath sufferers.
This sort of help is particularly important for these leaving incarceration, in response to Ankit Gupta, Bicycle Well being CEO & founder. About one in 5 adults in custody battle an opioid use dysfunction, and the main reason behind dying for these reentering society is opioid overdose.
“As sufferers transition from custody into neighborhood placements like Residential Reentry Facilities after which, ultimately, again into society independently, they’re at a heightened danger of relapse, overdose, and recidivism,” he stated in an electronic mail. “Enabling these sufferers to obtain care through a digital therapy program like Bicycle Well being’s helps scale back these dangers whereas rising their entry to care that’s versatile sufficient to comply with them all through the totally different levels of their launch.”
Bicycle Well being and Wellpath are already having an impression. Since they started working with this inhabitants in 2023, they’ve supported 2,640 sufferers dwelling in 139 residential reentry facilities in 45 states.
Gupta added that by way of this collaboration, he hopes to point out how “digital [opioid use disorder] therapy suppliers like Bicycle Well being enhance entry to look after sufferers within the legal justice system, whereas serving as a blueprint for future digital OUD therapy packages that bridge gaps in look after extra adults in custody throughout the U.S.”
One other firm that gives digital opioid use dysfunction help to these reentering society after incarceration is Boulder Care, although this firm focuses on Washington, Oregon and Ohio, whereas Bicycle Well being serves individuals nationally.
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