Suboxone and the TREAT Act - What's Taking So Long

It's common information that the TREAT Act affected access to the availability of buprenorphine formulations such as Suboxone. These formulations are in high demand due to the dramatic way they help individuals who struggle with an addiction to opioid medications. The TREAT Act also carried the name The Recovery Enhancement for Addiction Treatment Act, as well as Senate Bill 2645. Its goal was to reduce waiting lists and make Subutex, Suboxone, and additional forms of buprenorphine more readily available for a greater number of individuals.

The text of the bill starts out with a general overview of the information that triggered its introduction. It then covered the fact that drug overdoses from opioids had dramatically increased in the U.S. It then admits that fatalities from drug overdoses now take more lives in the United States each year than car crashes. Around 475,000 visits to emergency rooms nationwide are triggered by opioids each year, and this addiction is listed by the report as a chronic disease that is overwhelming our national healthcare system.

The previous legislation that had been in place was the Data Waiver Act of 2000. That legislation limited a physician who wanted to prescribe suboxone or buprenorphine to no more than 30 current patients at one time during the first year of prescribing the medications, and no more than 100 active patients in the following years. The TREAT Act did away with these limits, while also expanding prescribing authority to nurse practitioners and physicians assistants. This means that more individuals can prescribe this highly necessary medication, and more patients can be seen by one practice. The sponsors of the bill clearly recognized that it would be easier to save lives simply by providing more individuals with easier access to Suboxone.

Unfortunately, there tends to be a good bit of money made by prescribing buprenorphine in all of its possible formulations. There are a large number of amazing treatment programs that offer skilled rehab for opiate addiction in a clean, caring setting with a full therapy regimen. Many of these facilities offer therapy for individuals, groups, and some even offer family counseling. However, in many parts of the country, there are an overwhelming number of opioid patients waiting for a spot in treatment, and these types of facilities have a wait list. This type of legislation was designed to encourage more facilities like this to open up, and to limit the number of places where doctors can blindly prescribe suboxone without meeting very specific requirements about the training that they've gone through and the way their practice is run.

It's going to take quite some time before all of the federal legislation is in line with modern treatment standards and before nationwide goals are put in place that recognize addiction as the disease it is. It is an uphill battle to get appropriate legislation in place to fight the opioid epidemic in this country from a medical standpoint, instead of merely from the standpoint of punishing the addict with jail time.

If you or a loved one has an issue with opioid medications, you need treatment as soon as possible. Get your name on a waiting list with a treatment center near you. It may seem like it's too long to wait, but if you're not on the list, you'll never get to your name. Visit the medication assisted treatment program near you and ask about Suboxone treatment so you can learn what your options are and begin the steps toward recovery.