Advocates for Opioid Addiction Treatment (AOAT), a national coalition of opioid treatment facilities (OTPs), wrote a letter to the Senate expressing their disagreement with advancing the Modernizing Opioid Treatment Access Act, which would allow individuals with OUD to access methadone at pharmacies with a physician’s prescription (S. 644/H.R. 1359).
In the letter, AOAT discussed the following topics:
Methadone is an effective treatment for OUD, but its misuse can result in poisoning or death. Most office-based opioid treatment providers are unable to adopt the same patient and public safety measures as OTPs.
Reducing MAT to merely prescribing medication ignores the fact that behavioral health and supports are critical elements to recovery. Groups advocating for physician prescribing and pharmacy dispensing of methadone are removing logical safeguards provided by OTPs and creating a misconception to policymakers that methadone is not readily accessible.
AOAT supports expanding access to MAT and has developed an evidence-based policy proposal to assess the safety and efficacy of OTP physicians dispensing methadone outside of the OTP setting by collaborating with health care professionals.
Read AOAT’s full letter here.