Psychiatr News March 16, 2007
Volume 42, Number 6, page 11
© 2007 American Psychiatric Association
Addiction-Treatment Access Easier With Change in Patient Limit
Barbara Bryant
A change in federal law permits eligible physicians to increase the
number of patients they can treat with buprenorphine for opioid dependence. A
nonprofit association in New York is publicizing the treatment and matching
addicts with physicians.
The number of opiate addicts an individual physician is authorized to treat
with buprenorphine under the Drug Addiction Treatment Act of 2000 (DATA 2000)
has been raised from 30 to 100, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration (SAMHSA) announced in January. The increase reflects a change
in the office of National Drug Control Policy Reauthorization Act (ONDCPRA) of
2006.
This change applies to physicians who use buprenorphine (Suboxone and
Subutex) to treat opioid dependence on an outpatient basis and who are in solo
or group practices (Psychiatric News, January 5).
Under ONDCPRA physicians who meet four criteria may notify the Secretary of
Health and Human Services of their intent to treat up to 100 patients with
buprenorphine. The physician must meet these criteria:
- Be qualified under DATA 2000.
- Have allowed at least one year to elapse from the date he or she applied to
treat 30 patients with buprenorphine before submitting the initial
notification for authorization to treat a total of 100 patients.
- Certify his or her capacity to refer patients for appropriate counseling
and other appropriate ancillary services.
- Certify that the total number of patients being treated with buprenorphine
at any one time will not exceed 100.
With this change in the law, the next challenge is making addicts aware of
buprenorphine treatment and that local physicians are qualified to provide
it.
New York City's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has, for example,
teamed up with the nonprofit National Alliance of Advocates for Buprenorphine
Treatment (NAABT) and local physicians and pharmacists in an outreach effort
to publicize the treatment to opiate addicts. The first phase of the project
was a subway ad alerting friends and loved ones of addicts about the disease
of addiction and how buprenorphine is used to treat it.
Another part of the collaboration is a patient-physician matching system
launched by NAABT. In this free and confidential system, potential patients
register online and fill out a questionnaire. The system sends an e-mail about
the patient to participating physicians, and when a patient and physician
match is identified, the system sends the patient an e-mail urging him or her
to call the physician for further information. The NAABT says that from the
time the system became operational on September 1, 2006, through January 11,
1,383 patients have been matched with physicians.
NAABT is funded through private donations and an unrestricted educational
grant from Reckitt Benckiser, the only FDa-approved manufacturer of
buprenorphine for addiction treatment.
Notification forms and procedures are posted at
<www.buprenorphine.samhsa.gov>.
Additional information is available from Nicholas Reuter by phone at (240)
276-2700 or by e-mail at
Nicholas.Reuter{at}samhsa.org.
Information about NAABT is posted at
<www.naabt.org>.
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