Pubdate: Wed, 17 Jan 2001
Source: Reuters
Copyright: 2001 Reuters Limited
Author: Charnicia E. Huggins

NEW RULES ISSUED FOR METHADONE PROGRAMS

NEW YORK - Substance abuse programs that use
methadone or Levo-Alpha-Acetyl-Methadol (LAAM) to treat heroine and
similar addictions will soon be required to undergo accreditation,
according to a new federal regulation announced on Wednesday by the
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
The effort is intended to improve the quality and accountability of
drug treatment programs.

``We believe that these reforms will improve and set higher standards
of care for patients,'' Dr. H. Westley Clark, director of SAMHSA's
Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT), told Reuters Health.

For example, whereas the previous system was less concerned with the
patient's experience, Clark expects that the new accreditation system
will allow all treatment programs to ``have services available on site
or by referral for medical care, treatment for multiple addictive
substances, prenatal care, HIV prevention, as well as for patients who
request assistance with locating rehabilitation and
employment.''

Programs will be accredited based on factors such as demonstration of
individualized care, responsiveness to the needs of patients, and
methods of addressing environmental (or community) issues and
conflicts, such as littering or loitering, Clark explained.
Accreditation will last for 3 years, after which time each program
will be re-evaluated by a group of non-federal organizations,
according to CSAT guidelines.

The new system ``will ensure that the patient is appropriately
assessed and mapped to the right treatment, and that the treatment is
individualized instead of cookie-cutter,'' he said.

``A minor benefit is that the program then will be able to devote
itself to those patients who are most in need of acute or significant
intervention rather than treating everybody the same when everybody,
in fact, is not the same,'' Clark said.

The regulation will go into effect on March 19, 2001.
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