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Less than 2% of US physicians are allowed by law to prescribe thistreatment, and those that do have a Congress imposed limit on how manypatients they can treat (30 or 100 based on how long they have beencertified).
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Virtually all US physicians can prescribe, without limits, the medicationpeople become addicted to, but once addicted, less than 2% of doctors arelegally able to treat them with the most effective FDA approved medications.
Prescription painkiller addiction has reached epidemic status according tomany experts. Physicians have effective tools in their arsenal but arerestricted in saving lives due to stigma and outdated laws that ration thislifesaving healthcare. Helping patients find a physician able to help themsaves lives.
How the system works: Patients who can't find a doctor registeranonymously online. Instantly, an email goes out to all participatingphysicians alerting them to a patient near them in need of help. Doctorsreview the patient details and respond if they have an opening and meet thepatient's needs. Patients then receive an email with the doctor's contact infoand a short note, sometimes within minutes of reaching out for help.
Background: An outdated 1914 law, still on the books, prevents doctorsfrom prescribing the most effective FDA approved opioid addiction medicationscurrently available. In 2000 an amendment to this law was passed that alloweddoctors to prescribe certain medications specifically FDA approved for thetreatment of opioid addiction, if the physician passed a mandatory training,but still limited the physician to only helping 30 patients at any one time.This led to long patient waiting lists and some patients dying while waitingfor this lifesaving treatment. In 2006 the patient limit was upped to 100 fordoctors who had been certified for more than one year. Still finding a doctorclose by and one who accepts their insurance is very difficult for patientslooking to end their addictions. The matching system helps these patients.
Anonymous patient -- "I was ready to give up, then I received a doctoremail a few hours after registering ... and on a Sunday! It was so much easierto call back a doctor who I already knew wanted to treat me. I had anappointment the next day and life has been better ever since."
Patient registration page for the matching systemhttps://www.naabt.org/patient_doctor/patient_login.cfm.
About http://www.NAABT.org National Alliance of Advocates forBuprenorphine Treatment is a 501c3 non-profit organization charged with themission to:
-- Educate the public about the disease of opioid addiction and thebuprenorphine treatment option.
-- Help reduce the stigma and discrimination associated with patients withaddiction disorders.
-- Serve as a conduit connecting patients in need of treatment toqualified treatment providers.
Home page: http://www.NAABT.org order a free resource kit, print ordownload literature and studies, read what real patients in treatment say.
Read what other patients say or ask them a question on the onlinecommunity http://www.AddictionSurvivors.org.
Understand the laws about treating opioid addictionhttp://www.naabt.org/laws.cfm.
SOURCE NAABT, Inc.
