A new mobile app called FlexDek MAT Edition has won SAMHSA’s nationwide challenge to provide a mobile tool to support recovery from opioid use disorder.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) issued the challenge back in March, asking mobile developers to create an app that both supports recovery while also providing information on medication-assisted treatments (MAT). The national challenge included a lengthy set of requirements for developers to address within the app, including information on drug interactions and side effects, and a meeting location finder.
The competition was reviewed by a panel of technology specialists and recovery experts. The contest entries were evaluated based on several different perspectives, including patients’ needs, creativity, and practicality of implementation. With FlexDek, which was awarded first place and a prize of $15,000, users have access to important resources and can set goals, receive reminders, and contact treatment providers. As described on its website, “FlexDek is the premier developer of innovative, app-based solutions to support healthy lifestyle changes.”
As an adaptable smartphone tool, FlexDek hopes to raise levels of client participation by offering “rewards” for usage. The goal of the app is to reduce opioid-related relapses by improving medication compliance while offering resources to combat potential triggers in early sobriety.
Designed to use technology to help people recover from opioid-related disorders, FlexDek is an adaptation of previous wellness management technology by Client Care Solutions. It’s free for those in recovery, and the flexibility of the data-driven app offers both precision and scalability. Affordable for both insurance and treatment providers, FlexDek has the capability to help clinicians by customizing the levels of clinical involvement.
The Sober Network, the app’s creator, will use the $15,000 prize to help further FlexDek’s development, it said in a press release. The ultimate goal is to make the app available to those in recovery nationwide. Although the prize money helps, the real bonus is the public recognition the app has received from SAMHSA. A public beta version of FlexDek MAT Edition is now available on the iTunes App Store and Google Play. Other versions of the app are slated to be available by the year’s end.