A Checklist For Superior Opioid Treatment Programs

Painkiller Addiction in Oklahoma ^

[DBCJR]

Not all Opioid Treatment Programs (OTP) are the same. Compare OTPs to the following list before making a selection:

ð A SAMHSA accredited and certified, CARF accredited OTP.

ð An evidenced-based, best practice Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) OTP, using SAMHSA Treatment Improvement Protocol 43 as its model.

ð A MAT that emphasizes treatment of the underlying addiction requiring multiple therapeutic contacts per week, using a bio-psych-social approach toward recovery.

ð A MAT that is not a just a "maintenance" program but uses medication as a tool to get the opioid addict past a critical stage in recovery toward better outcomes.

Look for an abstinence-oriented recovery program.

ð A MAT that provides strict clinical safeguards to assure the safety of our consumers:

a. Mandatory daily dosing at their clinics to monitor compliance.

b. Frequent, random drug tests that involves a 12 drug panel, also testing for adulterants or masking agents. If they don't test for masking agents, the tests are not valid for protecting the addict from themselves. Drug supplementation can be lethal.

c. Participate in the DEA Prescription Monitoring Program and fax a sole-provider letter to all 12 methadone clinics in the area to prevent doctor shopping.

d. Use liquid medication that cannot be cheeked.

ð EXPERIENCE & SPECIALTY: Have medical and clinical personnel with specialized credentials and experience.

ð Outpatient therapy that allows maintenance of employment. Loss of jobs means loss of housing, and loss of housing often means the break-up of family and support structure. The OTP needs to offer convenient hours before and after work hours.

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ð Watch out for medication regimens that send patients home with a 30 day prescription, without monitoring to prevent dangerous supplementation or dosing leverage to assure treatment compliance. All MAT drugs, i.e., Methadone, Suboxone, buprenorphine, etc., are dangerous drugs and addicts are notorious for not following directions. Depending on an addict to do what they are supposed to do can be lethal. On the other hand, the use of such drugs to manage post-acute withdrawal symptoms, while requiring multiple therapeutic contacts per week and strict clinical safeguards, has proven positive outcomes.

The above checklist provides a way to identify an effective OTP for yourself or a loved one.

Here are three such OTPs you might want to consider:

Quapaw Counseling Services

Oklahoma City 405-672-3033

Miami, OK 918-542-1786

Keetoowah Cherokee Treatment Services

Tulsa 918-835-3017

Treating Native & Non-native people.

[Recovering Ex-hippie]

The VA now offers excellant opiod treatment programs.

[DBCJR]

The VA does have a good program.

[SERKIT]

Where can we find a Hopium Addiction Clinic? Barry the Pimp-Pusher need to be shut down.

[Mister Da]

I know a woman who became addicted as a result of a severely broken ankle. She participated in a methadone maintenance program for years - 10 or 15. Getting that dose was her top priority. After a hospital stay, her doctor told her the methadone was destroying her organs & she must stop. The drugs continue to beat her.

Here is the thing: If the bureaucrats at the gov’t subsidized methadone program had CUT just a minuscule amount of her dosage each day/week, she MIGHT be drug free today & in better health. In all those years they never attempted to help her with her addiction. They still haven't.

I'm gonna make a wild guess here: The amount of subsidy this “clinic” receives is based on the number of doses administered. Curing the “patient” would cut the subsidy. That's bad for business - can't do that.