Medication-assisted treatment of addiction is hailed by many experts as “must have” for effective addiction treatment care.
A new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) shows that such treatment is anything but standard care at most residential treatment centers in the U.S.
According to the website Addiction Professional, “the cross-sectional study of 2,863 residential treatment centers and 232,414 patient admissions in 2017 found that 60% of facilities offered zero MOUDs and only 1.3% offered all three MOUDs studied (extended-release naltrexone, buprenorphine, and methadone). Among the study’s other findings:
- 33.3% of facilities offered buprenorphine; 29.8% offered extended-release naltrexone; 2.1% offered methadone.
- Just 15% of the 232,414 patients studied had any MOUD as part of their treatment plan.
- While there was “no appreciable difference” in the availability of MOUDs in states that expanded Medicaid vs. those that did not, MOUDs were part of treatment for 17.7% of OUD patients who were admitted to treatment centers in expansion states vs. 1.9% of patients in non-Medicaid expansion states.”
Continuing from the article:
“Many of the facilities that claim they have OUD medications appear not to be using them,” Andrew S. Huhn, Ph.D., MBA, of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins University and the study’s lead author, told Pain Medicine News. “This is surprising, considering that most patients require supervised withdrawal, which is a terrible experience to go through, especially if treatment is without an opioid agonist like methadone or a partial agonist like buprenorphine.”
Why aren’t these treatments more widely available? Shouldn’t they be?
That’s a question the entire treatment community needs to address.
If you are struggling with an addiction to drugs and/or alcohol and need help with any aspect of care in Connecticut, New Hampshire, Southern Maine, eastern Massachusetts, or Florida, the recovery teams at Aware Recovery Care are here to help. Our unique model of care is giving clients a significantly better chance of recovery when compared to traditional inpatient rehab care. To learn more or to talk to one of our Recovery Specialists, please contact us.
