Category Archives: Methadone Take Home

Federal Rules For Methadone Access Are Changing

Posted on April 17, 2024 | Comments Off on Federal Rules For Methadone Access Are Changing

The synthetic opioid, fentanyl, has led to an increase in overdose deaths in recent years. As many as 112,000 in the last year according to NPR. As a result, some physicians are pushing to make methadone more available to those who need it.

The Biden administration has created new federal rules for methadone treatment designed to widen access for more patients. In particular, the requirement of one year of active opioid addiction is being reduced to just 6 months of opioid addiction in order to become eligible to receive methadone.

There are about 2000 federally-approved opioid treatment programs (OTP) in the United States. Many thousands of patients are receiving life saving services from these clinics. Since COVID, many OTP clinics have made take home medication more accessible to those in early phases of treatment.

With illegal opiates still flooding the country, increasing access to opioid treatment and medication is easily justified. The question remains as to how local law enforcement can ultimately stem the flow of drugs into the community, as well as how youth can be educated to avoid risking first drug use.

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Posted in Buprenorphine, Harm Reduction, Methadone, Methadone Clinics, Methadone Take Home, Opioid Treatment, Prescription Drugs, Suboxone

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Safety and Security With Methadone

Posted on April 5, 2013 | Comments Off on Safety and Security With Methadone

methadone-safetyIf you are currently a client in a methadone clinic, then you have most likely heard treatment staff emphasize the importance of safety with methadone and the necessity of carefully securing take home methadone doses. Methadone is a powerful medication that is tremendously helpful to recovering individuals. It is also potentially lethal in the wrong hands and consequently must be deliberately safeguarded.

There is a recently published article on Bloomberg regarding methadone being diverted and then taken by someone who later died from an overdose. This turn of events has led to newly proposed legislation in five states (Maine, Indiana, Minnesota, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania) that would further tighten regulations regarding the operation of methadone clinics and their award of methadone take home medication to their clients.

The reported misuse of methadone, and associated deaths, was allegedly tied to several private, for-profit clinics that operate in these states. One of the criticisms of the private, for-profit clinics was that they are not providing "enough services". This is intended to mean that the clinics in question were not providing sufficient education & counseling support or adequate monitoring of those who receive take home methadone.

It is critically important that all methadone clinics (both private and publicly supported) implement thorough measures to educate clients on methadone safety concerns as well as institute monitoring protocols like 24 hour callbacks and random drug testing. 24 hour callbacks require take home recipients to return to their home clinic within 24 hours and to produce their methadone take home doses for count and inspection by the clinic's medical staff.

It is also important that methadone clinics only award take home medication privileges to those clients who have achieved certain progress milestones such as successive months of clean urinalysis, attendance to required counseling sessions, the absence of criminal charges, and demonstrated appropriate behaviors & attitude toward staff and peers at the clinic.

When individuals intentionally divert methadone doses or mishandle methadone through lax practices (such as leaving it sitting out in plain view), they put others at risk and ultimately undermine the delivery of methadone services in the community. In other words, the mistakes of a few can negatively affect everyone. This also erodes the community's confidence in methadone as a life-saving medical treatment.

In the end, it is the shared responsibility of all methadone clinics and their clients to insure that methadone is taken as prescribed, and safeguarded from diversion. When proper precautions are not honored, tragedies will occur. This will lead to state legislators taking matters into their own hands with additional laws & regulations that may keep worthy individuals from receiving a valuable privilege. Take home medication is so very beneficial to honest, hard-working individuals in recovery. It frees them to seek employment, hold a job, care for family, and to more easily meet many other important responsibilities in their lives.

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Posted in Drug Treatment, Florida Methadone Clinics, Medication Assisted Treatment, Methadone, Methadone Clinics, Methadone Diversion Control, Methadone Maintenance, Methadone News, Methadone Overdose, Methadone Programs, Methadone Safety, Methadone Take Home, Prescription Monitoring, Suboxone Clinics, Suboxone Doctors, Suboxone Physicians

Balancing Methadone Client Rights With Accountability

Posted on November 4, 2012 | Comments Off on Balancing Methadone Client Rights With Accountability

methadone-clinic-13Methadone “take home” medication (also referred to as “take outs”) is a true convenience for those enrolled in a methadone clinic. Typically, clients who demonstrate that they are drug free and progressing in their substance abuse treatment can earn the privilege to receive take home medication.

Receiving take home methadone requires that the prescribing physician (and clinic) have safety and accountability measures in place to help reduce the chance of methadone or suboxone getting into the wrong hands. When clients take medication home, it is critical that the opioid replacement medication be kept secure and out of the reach of children. Overdoses can occur with individuals that have no developed tolerance to opioid replacement medication.

Receiving take home methadone is a privilege, not a “right”. This decision to award take home medication is usually a collective decision made among the clinical and medical staff in a treatment program. They base a client’s readiness to receive take home medication on that person’s level of recovery stability, absence of active psychiatric symptoms, and the safety & security of their immediate home environment.

Methadone and suboxone have considerable “street value” and can be resold or misdirected. Therefore, clinic staff want to be as assured as possible that any particular client receiving methadone is sincere, stable, and appropriately focused on his or her own recovery.

Methadone and suboxone patient rights are of course always very important. Clinics and physicians sometimes walk a fine line between accommodating the patient and requiring accountability measures that are perceived by the patient as a hassle. For example, methadone clinics are required to perform random “call backs” in which a client is contacted and required to bring their methadone medication back to the clinic within 24 hours for a recount. This helps the clinic insure that the patient is not over-taking their medication or misdirecting (selling) their medication. While not a guarantee of good behavior, it does encourage patients to treat their take home medication responsibly and with substantial care.

Another safety measure is random urinalysis. It is not safe for patients to receive take home medication if they are using other unapproved drugs. If a random drug test shows the recent use of illicit substances, then this requires the clinic to suspend take home privileges for some period of time, at least until it can be established that the patient is back on track and testing drug free again.

If a patient feels that their rights have been unfairly compromised, then they have access to the clinic’s internal review process and/or the state’s methadone board who hear and investigate client grievances. In the end, the patient and the methadone clinic should be in a cooperative partnership. This is the working ideal in any health care relationship one has with their treating physician. Clinics exist to treat and serve patients, and opioid addicted patients need the services of opioid treatment providers. This relationship is extremely valuable and should be nurtured by both parties both at initial intake and ongoing for the duration of the treatment process.

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Posted in Medication Assisted Treatment, Methadone, Methadone Clinics, Methadone Maintenance, Methadone Safety, Methadone Take Home, Methadone Treatment, Suboxone

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Methadone Take Home Medication

Posted on April 16, 2011 | Comments Off on Methadone Take Home Medication

methadone78Methadone take homes (or carry outs) are awarded to clients that have demonstrated treatment progress, stability, and personal responsibility. A take home dose of methadone may be earned once a client has met a number of criteria set by each methadone clinic. Each state has its own methadone authority that provides additional guidelines regulating take home award. Consequently, take home medication awards may differ from one clinic to the next, and from one state to the next.

Some clinics provide an automatic take home for Sunday (often because the clinic is closed on Sunday), although a number of treatment programs have discontinued the “automatic” Sunday take home and are now open every day of the week for medication dispensing . This change resulted from a move to increase patient safety and to help ensure that take home medication was provided only to those with a good track record of program success & compliance.

It should be noted that pain management clinics and addiction treatment clinics, both of which provide their patients with methadone, are very different programs and operate with significantly different standards and oversight. Opioid addiction treatment programs are subject to much tighter regulation and require that new participants be seen face-to face everyday in order to be evaluated before they receive their methadone dose.

This is not required of pain management clinics who are able to dispense opioid pain medication (including methadone) without the same level of oversight. Consequently, much of the methadone diversion concerns making the news (including related overdoses) are the result of diversion of methadone provided by the less regulated pain management clinics.

Unfortunately, the general public have often wrongly assumed that addiction treatment clinics were at fault. While diversion of methadone does occur on occasion in both settings, methadone treatment clinics offer much more comprehensive accountability & monitoring measures than do most pain management clinics.

A majority of methadone take home recipients are very responsible with their medication. They take it exactly as prescribed, and store it safely & securely. Many patients have properly utilized their take home medication for years without incident or problems of any kind.

A number of clinics allow their patients to receive up to 13 take home doses requiring an in-person visit to the clinic on the 14th day. Some clinics provide up to a month of take home medication for patients showing long-term stability and responsible handling of their take home medication. Take homes are earned one-at-a-time at specific time intervals as clients move through phases (or levels) in the opioid treatment program.

It is important to note that take home medication is a privilege, and not a right. The award of take home medication is usually a team consensus decision based on a patient’s excellent urinalysis results, consistent attendance to & participation in treatment sessions, and evidence of psychiatric stability and good decision-making ability. If a client relapses or is having a particular problem coping, then take home medication is suspended for the client’s safety, and until the treatment team determines that the client is doing well enough to resume take homes.

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Posted in Medication Assisted Treatment, Methadone, Methadone Diversion Control, Methadone Maintenance, Methadone Safety, Methadone Take Home, Methadone Treatment, Prescription Monitoring