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August 28, 2008
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eNewsletter - January 8, 2008
Medication Assisted Recovery
The RASE Project’s Buprenorphine Coordinator Program
Background: Growing numbers of people are being identified at earlier stages in their addiction through the intervention of primary care physicians or other health professionals. There’s increased understanding that addiction is a multifaceted health issue that requires the integration of treatment and support services. Under the Drug Treatment Act of 2000, qualified physicians can treat opioid addiction with medications approved by the FDA. These medications include buprenorphine and Vivitrol. However, these physicians aren’t necessarily ready to connect people with the other supports that they need to get their lives back on track.
Physicians can prescribe buprenorphine if they have met Congressionally-mandated training requirements and obtained a waiver from the federal government’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (SAMHSA/CSAT). Buprenorphine is the only medication that can be prescribed for the detoxification and maintenance of opioid addiction by a certified physician in an office-based setting (it can also be prescribed and administered in a methadone clinic setting). While people can now get buprenorphine in the privacy of a physician’s office, that’s just the first step in a person getting on the path to long-term recovery. Physicians aren’t used to or trained to refer people to appropriate outpatient counseling and ongoing referrals to other necessary supports and services. For many of them, providing care beyond prescribing medication has created a burden that is affecting system capacity, making them reluctant to take on more buprenorphine patients.
RASE Project Buprenorphine Coordinator Program
A group of concerned individuals involved in Pennsylvania’s Health Choices Initiative (the Medical Assistance managed care program) decided to make reinvestment dollars available to implement a Buprenorphine Coordinator Program. The Program was developed by the RASE Project and is funded through the Initiative. We assist people using buprenorphine to access recovery through a multi-faceted approach, including referrals to appropriate outpatient treatment providers and other essential services. We support and monitor these individuals in their early recovery process to ensure that they get the many issues that they are facing addressed. We work directly with the individuals receiving the buprenorphine, doctors’ offices, treatment service providers, and other service providers to help persons new to recovery so that they can successfully navigate the system.
The Program coordinates services for each individual by:
- referring them to appropriate counseling
- doing assessments to determine what kinds of support(s) they need
- developing a Recovery Plan that addresses each person’s needs
- coordinating services to support the recovery process, such as: housing, employment, health care, etc.
- helping people identify appropriate recovery support groups
- providing ongoing monitoring of individuals’ successes and/or challenges while enrolled in the Program
- developing specific peer support groups for those individuals receiving buprenorphine treatment;
We also educate physicians and psychiatrists on buprenorphine and the need for this pathway to recovery and how recovery is a lifelong process and are working to increase the number of outpatient providers who are willing to treat individuals who have been prescribed buprenorphine.
There are 5 coordinators who work in five counties in central Pennsylvania. Each provides services to individuals and is working to develop successful collaborations with prescribing physicians and counseling services. Our goal is to have the cooperation of the individual enrolled, the Coordinator, the prescribing physician’s office, and the treatment provider. This team approach and response to concerns/problems from regular contact with the participant by the Coordinator is ensuring coordination of care and increasing the opportunities for early intervention by health care professionals. Coordinators stay involved in individuals’ care until they are totally stabilized in the recovery process.
About the RASE Project: The RASE Project serves Central Pennsylvania and assists individuals affected substance us issues, problems and concerns by fostering progress, enriching lives, and ultimately enhancing the recovery process. It provides advocacy services for individuals in, or seeking recovery from the disease of addiction, safe and secure therapeutic recovery housing for women in early recovery, peer to peer recovery services like Life Skills, Recovery 101, Recovery Planning and Vocational Assistance, positive social events like dances, workshops, and breakfasts, conscience raising activities like the Tree of Hope, Recovery Fest, and the Celebrate Recovery! Recovery Walk, and public policy forums to disseminate the most recent legislation affecting the Recovery Community. We facilitate grassroots organizing in the Recovery Community to draw vital and enthusiastic volunteers. We have new projects underway that will be announced shortly. Ultimately, we strive to enhance the recovery process through positive interaction and empowering assistance.
For further information about this program, call Dona Dmitrovic at the RASE Project at 717-232-8535.