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SAMHSA Proposed Rule Permits Methadone Prescribing for New Patients via Telemedicine
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) on Tuesday proposed updating federal regulations to permit using audio-visual telehealth services for any new patient treated with methadone in an Opioid Treatment Program (OTP) under specific conditions. In a proposed rule, SAMHSA said federal regulations should be updated to allow using audio-visual telehealth services for patients treated with methadone in OTPs only if a program physician, or an authorized healthcare professional under the supervision of a program physician, determines that an adequate evaluation of the patient can be accomplished via…
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Biden Administration Launches Opioid Overdose Dashboard
The Biden Administration on Thursday unveiled a new website featuring the Office of National Drug Control Policy’s (ONDCP) new Opioid Overdose Tracker to track non-fatal, opioid overdoses in the pre-hospital setting in an effort to prevent overdose deaths. Non-fatal overdoses are a good predictor of fatal overdoses, Biden administration officials said during a news briefing Wednesday according to Politico. People who experience at least one non-fatal overdose are about two to three times more likely to eventually die from one, they said. Using data submitted to the National Emergency Medical…
