Senior Director, Clinical Outcomes and Research BayMark Health Services Lewisville, Texas
Presentation Summary: This presentation will discuss the methodology and early findings from an ongoing study of take-home medication at Opioid Treatment Programs (OTPs) following regulatory reforms. This study, conducted with support from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, will draw from clinical and administrative records at BayMark Health Services, the largest provider of outpatient opioid use disorder treatment in the US. The project seeks to characterize practice changes at OTPs, examine the relationship between take-home expansion and patient outcomes, and develop predictive models to inform clinical decisions. The presentation will also describe research on revised methadone dosing protocols for patients using fentanyl.
Learning Objectives:
At the completion of this activity, participants will:
Describe the history of federal regulations governing provision of take-home methadone, including their rationale and critique, and the major changes in the methadone take-home regulations since the coronavirus pandemic.
Describe how the provision take-home medication in Opioid Treatment Programs operated by a large national health system changed since the relaxation of take-home regulations and how they vary across OTPs.
Describe the characteristics of patients receiving take home medications and how they have changed since the relaxation of the take-home regulations.
