Feds Propose More Access to Opiate Addiction Treatment (baltimore sun)

Sunday May 15th, 2016

The Obama administration is proposing to double the number of patients a doctor may treat with a controversial heroin addiction medication — an idea that is drawing praise from public health officials, but also questions about the impact it could have on the nation's opioid epidemic.

The Department of Health and Human Services, confronting a dramatic increase in overdoses from prescription drugs and heroin, is considering a regulation that would permit physicians to treat up to 200 patients with buprenorphine — a drug considered safer and more convenient than methadone.

Health officials have sought for years to lift the current cap of 100 patients — arguing it limits access to treatment — and are receiving broader support as opioid abuse has spiked. About 28,000 people died of overdoses in the United States in 2014, four times the number in 2000.

Baltimore Health Commissioner Leana Wen has lobbied for the change.

 

Read More at: http://www.baltimoresun.com/health/bs-md-buprenorphine-cap-20160515-story.html

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