§ 4702 - Establishment of guidelines for opiate treatment - Vermont Statutes

§ 4702. Establishment of guidelines for opiate treatment

(a) The department of health, in collaboration with the opiate addiction treatment advisory committee, shall develop by rule comprehensive guidelines for a regional system of opiate addiction treatment.

(b) The guidelines shall include the following requirements:

(1) Patients shall receive appropriate, comprehensive behavioral therapy;

(2) If pharmacological treatment is medically appropriate, a medical assessment shall be conducted for the appropriateness of treatment with buprenorphine, once it is federally approved for opiate addiction treatment, prior to prescribing methadone;

(3) A routine medical assessment of the appropriateness for the patient of continued pharmacological treatment based on protocols designed to encourage cessation of pharmacological treatment as soon as medically appropriate for the individual treatment needs of the patient;

(4) Federally approved pharmacological treatments for opiate addiction shall be dispensed only by authorized treatment programs;

(5) Comprehensive education and training requirements shall be established, including relevant aspects of behavioral therapy and pharmacological treatment, for physicians, pharmacists, and certified or licensed alcohol and drug abuse counselors affiliated with an approved treatment program;

(6) Rules of conduct for patients, violation of which may result in discharge from the treatment program, shall include required urinalysis at such times as the program may direct, restrictions on medication dispensing designed to prevent diversion of medications and to diminish the potential for patient relapse, and such other rules of conduct as the department and the program may require; and

(7) Opiate addiction treatment that includes the prescription of pharmacological therapy shall be operated only through treatment programs located in medical hospitals or medical school facilities, that have agreed to provide such treatment, in geographically well-suited locations in this state.

(c) The commissioner shall report annually to the general assembly on or before January 1 on the effectiveness of this chapter in the treatment of opiate addiction. (Added 1999, No. 123 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. May 18, 2000.)