Addiction Treatment Forum reports on substance use news of interest to opioid treatment programs and patients in medication-assisted treatment.
Mobile methadone in New York
The unrolling story of methadone vans in New York is being enthusiastically assisted by Allegra Schorr. She heads the Coalition of Medication-Assisted Treatment Providers and Advocates (COMPA). COMPA represents New York State’s opioid treatment programs (OTPs) which are focused on making methadone more accessible to more patients. We talked to Schorr earlier this month about…
Many SUD bills under consideration by Congress
This month, the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee conducted a hearing focusing19 bills, most of them focusing on substance use disorders (SUDs). One of the bills would eliminate the requirement that a patient be addicted for a full year before being admitted to an Opioid Treatment Program (OTP) for treatment with methadone. A concern…
Continue Reading Many SUD bills under consideration by Congress
Study: Low-Barrier-to-Treatment-Access Programs Help Patients Experiencing Homelessness Enter MMT and Stay in Treatment
Patients with opioid use disorder (OUD) experiencing homelessness face an increased risk of opioid overdose and death, compared with patients with OUD who are housed. Unfortunately, those lacking housing are less likely than those with housing to enter and stay in methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) programs—programs they urgently need. A new study funded in part…
AT Forum Newsletter – Recent Articles
NY announces reimbursement for methadone vans
Last week Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York announced the availability of up to $1 million for establishing vans to provide medications, including methadone and buprenorphine. The funding would go only to Opioid Treatment Programs (OTPs), which would operate the vans. Funding is provided through the federal State Opioid Response (SOR) grant, and awarded through…
Continue Reading NY announces reimbursement for methadone vans
SAMHSA issues guidance on take-home flexibility extensions
The Substance Abuse and Mental Services Administration (SAMHSA) this month (March 2022) issued guidance on its extensions of exemptions for methadone take-home rules going beyond the COVID-19 public health emergency. Under the new guidance, SAMHSA is “pre-emptively granting OTPs [opioid treatment programs] an exemption, effective upon the expiration of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency, and…
Continue Reading SAMHSA issues guidance on take-home flexibility extensions
NASEM meeting on methadone focused on how to expand access using primary care
On March 3-4, the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) hosted a workshop on how to expand access to methadone. We covered the entire meeting and will include individual stories focused on specific topics. The main point of the NASEM workshop was how to expand access to methadone for opioid use disorder (OUD) in…
Continue Reading NASEM meeting on methadone focused on how to expand access using primary care
AATOD to sponsors of methadone reform bills: Keep OTPs involved in dispensing
The American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence (AATOD) on March 2 sent letters to the sponsors of proposals which would liberalize methadone regulations. While AATOD supports much of what is in the bills, it differs in particular on take-home prescribing of methadone through pharmacies. The two methadone reform bills, one in the Senate…
Continue Reading AATOD to sponsors of methadone reform bills: Keep OTPs involved in dispensing
New York OTPs Call for Help from Flush State Budget
With opioid overdoses at the highest level ever and still going up – more than 100,000 a year – this is not the time for opioid treatment programs (OTPs) to be losing ground. Yet this is what is happening, according to the Coalition of Medication-Assisted Treatment Providers and Advocates (COMPA), testifying February 14 at a…
Continue Reading New York OTPs Call for Help from Flush State Budget
Some support from AATOD in Markey-Paul bill, but NAMA-R supports it all
Like the Norcross bill introduced in the House of Representatives last year (see https://atforum.com/2021/12/norcross-bill-modernize-methadone-treatment/) the Markey-Paul bill to allow pharmacy dispensing of methadone (see https://atforum.com/2022/02/bill-pharmacy-dispensing-methadone-senate/) was not endorsed by the American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence (AATOD), because of the reduced role for opioid treatment program (OTP) prescribers. Asked for a comment when…
Continue Reading Some support from AATOD in Markey-Paul bill, but NAMA-R supports it all
