The national epidemic of substance abuse and addiction has proven one of the most difficult for office-based physicians to address, but providers are increasingly looking for ways to become part of the solution. Maine Medical Center represents one recent example of a group that is reinventing the role of primary care practices in treating patients for life-threatening addictions, particularly heroin, according to an article from the Portland Press Herald.
Maine Medical's upcoming pilot program is not intended to replace recovery centers, which have diminished in the state, but to provide a modest step in the right direction.
Under the program, which Maine Med is funding with an $800,000 investment, three addiction counselors will float among several primary care offices to provide treatment. In addition, 10 doctors have been trained to prescribe Suboxone, a replacement drug therapy that can help wean heroin addicts off of opiates.
"It's a pilot program to see if we can expand access in this way," said Jonathan Fellers, M.D., who will coordinate the program and also serve as one of the three counselors. "We're already treating these patients. We just want to offer addiction services to them as well."
Like much of the United States, Maine is suffering the fallout from overprescribing of prescription opioids and related issues and consequences. The number of Maine residents seeking treatment for opiate use rose from 1,115 in 2010 to 3,463 in 2014, according to the article, while heroin overdose deaths surged from seven in 2009 to 57 in 2014. The state has also seen a rise in drug-affected babies and Hepatitis C.
Treating drug addiction as a chronic disease has been endorsed by many in both the medical and law enforcement communities, as previously reported in FiercePracticeManagement.
To learn more:
- read the article