PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE EDITORIAL: …Far too few doctors have approval from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to prescribe Suboxone, which was OK’d in 2002 for treating opioid dependence. Even worse, the law limits those doctors to 30 such patients the first year and 100 after that.
Legislation seeks to increase the number of Suboxone patients physicians can take. It also would enable some nurse practitioners and physician assistants to prescribe the drug for up to 100 patients a year, if they have received training and worked under a Suboxone-approved doctor.
In the Senate, The Recovery Enhancement for Addiction Treatment bill would raise the number of Suboxone patients a physician can treat from 30 to 100 the first year. After that, providers could ask to treat more than 100 patients. This would greatly expand access to Suboxone, save lives and move more addicts into long-term recovery… (more)
EDITOR: When Subxone was first released, the limit of thirty patients per physician was cautionary. Actually, it does not take that much for any medical doctor to become certified.
Today there is no reason why interested physicians who are certified should not be allowed to oversee the treatment of a hundred patients. What is needed is ongoing counseling for addicts in remission and that can be provided by others.
We know of one local physician, now largely retired, who provided both the medicine and group counseling.
