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State clears way for speedier addiction treatment

ALPENA — A day’s wait can be a life-or-death matter.

That was the driving impetus behind a change made by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, which on Monday lifted restrictions to accelerate the speed at which opiate addicts can receive access to medications with the power to prevent a drug overdose.

Medicaid patients who are ready to kick their opiate habit can now have immediate access to medications used by some physicians and treatment centers to help a patient through opiate withdrawal.

Before the change by DHHS, physicians needed to receive clearance from DHHS-connected insurance companies before offering the medication, which could result in a wait of several days.

Now, prescribing doctors can offer an opiate use disorder treatment drug immediately, potentially keeping a patient from continuing their drug use and endangering their safety while waiting for medications.

Speed in receiving treatment is crucial, said Lynn Sutfin, DHHS spokeswoman.

The option to treat a patient may be lost if medication can’t be provided promptly, Sutfin explained. The patients who are in need of the medication, many of whom have economic struggles as a result of their addiction, may not physically be able to return to be given medications.

Too, the danger is real that an addict will continue to use until they are helped medically, putting them in danger of an overdose, said John Keller, director of Alpena and Montmorency counties’ DHHS offices.

“Timing is everything,” Keller said. “Once they made that decision to seek that treatment, you’ve got to strike while the iron’s hot.”

In medication-assisted treatment, or MAT, medications such as buprenorphine satisfy the patient’s cravings and keep them from going into withdrawal, helping them not to think about going to search for an opioid.

The medical treatment is often accompanied by individual or group therapy, connections to social service agencies, and other methods to help the user break their addiction.

Opponents express concern the treatment simply replaces one drug with another and lengthens the withdrawal process.

The change in DHHS policy has already helped with administration of medication at Alcona Health Center, where medication-assisted treatment is one service offered to those battling opioid addiction. A patient in need on Wednesday was able to obtain her medication the same day, without a phone call from the insurance company.

“That was very nice,” said Dan Oliver, director of the MAT program at the Health Center.

The Alpena clinic currently works with 61 patients undergoing opioid addiction treatment.

When doctors need to get authorization for MAT medications, “it’s a very long phone call,” Oliver said. Clinic workers can spend 30 to 40 minutes talking to pharmacists and insurance agents, answering the same questions over and over — time they will now be able to spend with patients.

The many layers of paperwork needed to obtain insurance approval can take days. The lack of prompt medical treatment when a patient is ready to receive it can feel, Oliver said, like one in a series of rejections to people who are often stigmatized for their addiction.

They think, “Nobody does want to help me,” he said. “They were right in the first place.”

DHHS will monitor and evaluate the use of MAT drugs statewide to make sure Monday’s policy change doesn’t have any negative impacts, Sutfin said.

Julie Riddle can be reached at 989-358-5693, jriddle@thealpenanews.com or on Twitter @jriddleX.

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