by Liz Bonis, WKRC | Tue, May 2nd 2023, 5:25 PM MDT
CINCINNATI (WKRC) – A new app is helping families who are fighting addiction. The app to fight addiction with the help of medication-assisted treatment is a first of its kind. Thousands of patients and providers are already using it across the country.
It was created by a company called Atadas, which appropriately means ‘lean on me.’
“It was meth first and then pills, and from there we just went on and got deeper into it. Eventually we lost our house, our vehicles, our family almost fell apart,” said Kayla Johns, describing she and her husband.
The app known as ‘AddMedPro’ – or Addiction Medicine Program – has helped them both stay sober now for seven years.
“Everybody gets to the point where they don’t want to use anymore,” Kayla Johns said.
Grant Lannoye is a substance use disorder treatment physician assistant who worked with the Johns’.
Lannoye said Kayla Johns needed medicationassisted treatment “where we utilize prescription medications to help people recover from their substance use disorder,” Lannoye said.
When those medications are prescribed, patients need to be carefully monitored. But many live in rural areas, where going to a doctor’s office isn’t convenient.
That’s where the AddMedPro app comes into play. Bill Farr is its founder and CEO. It has education, ways to list pill counts, and receive messages from a medical provider.
The app’s main goal is to help patients stay in treatment with medication-assisted therapy. It has a secure way to post pill counts and keep patients accountable and communicating, so medical providers can keep prescribing them.
“And we actually found over a two-year pilot, about a 39% increase in patient retention,” Farr said.
For those such as the Johns, that can be life-changing and life-saving.
“When you hit rock bottom, you know when you are there and you know when you need to clean up or you will end up dead, you know. So, I was at that point in my life where I needed to fight for my babies, so that’s what I was doing,” William Johns said.
The app is designed specifically for opioid use disorder. Anyone who thinks it might be helpful for them should ask a treatment provider about it.
