Middletown, Connecticut-based PursueCare has rolled out a new remote, integrated medication-assisted treatment (MAT) model for patients in Kentucky and West Virginia.
PursueCare is a tech-enabled health services startup that aims to help curb the opioid epidemic. The company was founded in 2019, with investment from WRD Capital and Starboard Capital Partners, among others.
For patients receiving care through the new model, treatment starts at points-of-care that don’t provide outpatient addiction treatment or that struggle to provide comprehensive services.
From there, treatment follows patients into their homes via video and smartphone app. Like with traditional MAT, patients receive medication treatment, counseling and pharmacy services. Treatments are personalized to each individual patient, and prescriptions are delivered via a mail-order pharmacy.
The goal of the remote, integrated model is to make it easier for people with OUD to receive treatment — especially those living in underserved communities.
“Lack of access to treatment that works, fractured treatment options and common barriers like stigma and inconvenience all stack the deck against lasting recovery,” CEO and cofounder Nick Mercadante said in a press release announcing the news. “Substance use disorder is a disease that requires consistent holistic medical treatment.”
To make it all happen, PursueCare partners with health system emergency departments, rural health clinics, family practices and other facilities to provide addiction care for their patients “without requiring additional internal resources or infrastructure to do so,” according to the press release.
Services are billed to patient insurance at no cost to PursueCare’s partners. The company is in-network with state Medicaid managed care programs and most commercial insurances.
“By partnering with like-minded health systems and providers we can get this treatment started right away, and patients can bring it home with them,” Mercadante said.
The model’s recent roll out is part of PursueCare’s “aggressive national growth strategy,” according to the press release.
That strategy includes the opening of a physical clinic in Somerset, Kentucky for patients who need more intensive services.
Additionally, it includes introducing similar programs in Connecticut, Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maine and Vermont soon.
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