Hospital emergency departments (EDs) risk legal liability by not referring patients to treatment with methadone or buprenorphine, and for not offering such treatment themselves, according to a 69-page report from the Legal Action Center. The report, released July 20,  notes that due to the lethal supply of illicit fentanyl on the streets, many people who…

Continue Reading Legal Action Center Report Warns Hospitals of Legal Liability for Failing to Care for OUDs

West Virginia doesn’t have a stellar history when it comes to treating opioid use disorder. In 2018, it led the nation in opioid-related problems (https://atforum.com/2018/09/west-virginia-leads-nation-opioid-problems/). More than 10 years ago, the state instituted a moratorium against new OTPs on the mistaken belief that methadone overdoses in the state were related to OTPs; they were not,…

Continue Reading ONDCP director nominated: It’s Gupta

When someone with an opioid use disorder (OUD) seeks help at a busy opioid treatment program (OTP), interim methadone services—providing up to 120 days of methadone dosing, without counseling—can make all the difference in that person’s life.  But waitlisting is sometimes an OTP’s only option. That’s because many OTPs lack interim methadone services, so all…

Continue Reading Scoping Review: Interim Methadone Services Can Offer a Lifesaving Hand When Someone Desperately Needs Help

As of July 28, licensed opioid treatment programs (OTPs) can operate vans which dispense methadone. The final rule, issued June 28 by the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), follows the March 9, 2020 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, making it clear…

Continue Reading DEA Okays Methadone Vans if Operated by OTPs

Emergency departments have long been able to give patients methadone to treat opioid use disorder (OUD) for three days. But there are problems with that: partly that patients have to keep coming back to get it every day, and, mainly, that doctors “just haven’t been excited about doing it,” in the words of Linda Hurley,…

Continue Reading When emergency departments make referrals, are they sending them to treatment?

There are many bills and proposals which would loosen up treatment with methadone or buprenorphine. The better-known proposals to get rid of the X-waiver for buprenorphine are an important part of the story, but this story is specifically about making treatment in opioid treatment programs (OTPs) more convenient for patients. “Methadone reform” is a call…

Continue Reading Methadone treatment reform: A middle ground?

Krista Mayes, director of the addiction treatment provider program of NSM insurance, group, talked recently about the importance of prevention for opioid treatment programs (OTPs). Speaking at the April 10 Open Board meeting which ended the first day of the meeting of the American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence (AATOD), Ms. Mayes focuses…

Continue Reading NSM to AATOD Board: Be Proactive to Avoid Big Professional Liability Claims

In these pages of Addiction Treatment Forum we feature two studies describing experiences at opioid treatment programs (OTPs) during COVID-19. The first study, from Bronx/Montefiore OTPs, reports favorable outcomes and more-flexible patient care, compared to pre-COVID. The second study, from RAND Drug Policy Research Center, is based on telephone surveys of caregivers at 20 OTPs…

Continue Reading Two Studies Describe Differences in OTP Responses to COVID-19: What Can We Learn?

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a higher dose naloxone hydrochloride nasal spray product to treat opioid overdose. The newly approved product delivers 8 milligrams (mg) of naloxone into the nasal cavity. The FDA had previously approved 2 mg and 4 mg naloxone nasal spray products. Naloxone is a medicine that can be…

Continue Reading FDA Approves Higher Dosage of Naloxone Nasal Spray