Changing Federal Methadone Regulations

For the first time in more than 20 years, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has relaxed federal requirements on how methadone is dispensed in opioid treatment programs (OTPs), which are the only facilities where this life-saving drug is allowed to be administered.

Methadone is a critical medication in the treatment of opioid use disorder (OUD), but long-standing regulations at the federal and state levels make it difficult for many people to access it. New federal regulations dramatically improve access to care and flexibility for patients, and many of the changes are permanent extensions of flexible policies put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic designed to encourage social distancing and keep patients safe. Patients can now receive their medicines delivered home for up to 28 days after one month of treatment – before the Covid-19 health emergency, they could only access them after two years of inpatient treatment.

Additionally, counseling is no longer required as a prerequisite to treatment, more types of providers in the OTP – such as physician assistants and nurse practitioners – are able to dispense methadone, and patients can begin treatment more quickly without first demonstrating a year of work experience. OUD history. The Pew Charitable Trusts Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Initiative has long advocated for increased access to this critical medicine. But to maximize the benefits these federal changes can bring to patients, state policymakers must now also review state laws and align them with new, evidence-based standards.

“This new federal regulation aligns with decades of evidence on the safety and effectiveness of methadone and has the potential to transform OTP care,” said Frances McGaffey, who works on Pew’s Substance Use Prevention and Treatment Initiative. “But states also need to follow suit and make changes that make methadone more readily available to patients.”