Mobile solution connects opioid-addicted patients to their caregivers

Your patient is recovering from an opioid addiction and leaves the treatment centre. He or she is not expected to return for a number of weeks, so how do you monitor their progress?

TryCycle Data Systems (www.trycycledata.com) establishes a simple channel for opioid-addicted patients and their practitioners between appointments. “It’s a digital tether between the practitioner and the patient after they leave the office,” said John MacBeth, CEO.

TryCycle has three key components: an early warning system, which highlights a self-assessment (journaling); an algorithm and a clinician dashboard.

The self-assessment tool will prompt a patient to answer several questions about their emotional well-being using a one to nine scale. The system then forwards that information to the patient’s treatment programs.

The clinician dashboard identifies patients at risk of relapse, and quickly notifies the practitioner that a patient is in danger and requires an intervention.

The survey questions are completely customizable to the needs of the patient. That’s because there’s a difference between a person suffering from opioid abuse and methamphetamine abuse, and a difference between alcohol and tobacco addiction. “The system was designed to interface and become a subject matter expert,” said MacBeth.

Someone who is acute may be asked to journal up to six times a day for two weeks, whereas a non-acute patient may only need to journal once a day.

TryCycle is designed to aggregate data, which is presented in a simple format so a practitioner – based on the evidence – can make a quick decision.

The Ottawa-based company has been applying its systems mostly in substance abuse programs in the United States, due to both the size of the market and for proof of concept. In Canada, TryCycle has partnered with Royal Ottawa Hospital and University of Ottawa Medical School. It has a satellite office in downtown Toronto, sharing space with partner IBM Canada.

It’s also working with Durham Regional Police for Mental Health, substance abuse, and PTSD. In fact, the company won an Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE) award with Durham Regional Police for mental health and first responders.

TryCycle is versatile enough that a physician can use it, but the system was designed especially for the Cognitive Behavioural Therapist (CBT). “A patient will see a CBT more than they will a physician,” said MacBeth. “A CBT has a good relationship with the patient and they know the resources in the community better than anybody. By giving the data to the CBT, they’re in a better position to make a quick decision if a patient should seek medical assistance.”

MacBeth and co-Founder, Ken House, started the company in 2012 around the time MacBeth was completing his Master’s degree in Leadership Health in New Haven, Connecticut. Passionate about helping people suffering from opioid addiction and substance abuse, they developed a solution that combines human interaction with machine learning and artificial intelligence.

TryCycle can predict dangerous behaviour and identifies a patient at risk prior to them making a bad decision. “Up until now, healthcare has always been reactive, so we’re treating a patient when they’re already sick,” said MacBeth. “What we’re trying to be is proactive, and to catch the patient before they fall.”

The company recently signed its first commercial partner – the fourth largest health organization in the U.S. – Hartford Healthcare, in New England.

TryCycle works with each practitioner to customize the interface to their unique audience, their demographic and jurisdiction. “TryCycle can help a practitioner that has 50 clients to effectively double that number,” said MacBeth. “It allows them to care for more people, which will help deal with the pandemic of opioid use.”