Category: Alerts
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA), published a final rule to comprehensively update regulations governing Opioid Treatment Programs (OTPs). The final rule seeks to dramatically expand access to life-saving medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) and to reduce stigma.
The final rule incorporates critical feedback submitted by treatment providers, advocates, and patients. Major provisions of the final rule that will expand access to medications for opioid use disorder while ensuring high-quality care include:
- Making permanent COVID-19 era flexibilities that expand eligibility for patients to receive take-home doses of methadone. This will help reduce the burden of transportation for frequent clinic visits. Research has shown that patients receiving take-home doses are more likely to remain in treatment and less likely to use illicit opioids.
- Allowing initiation of treatment via telehealth, including methadone via audio-visual telehealth technology and buprenorphine via audio-only technology, to remove transportation barriers.
- Expanding provider eligibility to allow nurse practitioners and physician assistants to order medications in OTPs, where state law allows, to reduce the burden on OTP operations and increase patient access to medications.
- Breaking down barriers to entry for treatment by removing the stringent admission criteria that had previously required patients to have a history of addiction for a full year before being eligible for treatment. This will help open more doors to treatment for more people when they need it and ensure that everyone can get the care they need.
- Expanding access to interim treatment, allowing patients to initiate medication treatment while awaiting further services to ensure people have access to care as soon as they are ready and reduce the barriers of treatment waitlists.
- Promoting patient-centered models of care that are aligned with management approaches for other chronic conditions.
