As the country strives to overcome the opioid epidemic, many patients need treatment for opioid use disorders—and physicians are stepping up to the plate. Find out how you can get the proper training to provide medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for your patients. Three free opportunities are quickly approaching.
MAT is treatment for substance use disorders that includes the use of medication paired with counseling and other support. In order to prescribe buprenorphine, a partial opioid agonist used to treat opioid addiction, physicians must have eight hours of certified training and obtain a waiver.
“There are literally millions of people across the country who need our help, and they need it now,” Michael Botticelli, director of National Drug Control Policy recently said to physician leaders at the 2016 National Advocacy Conference in Washington, D.C. “We know that [MAT], when combined with counseling, is a proven path to recovery.” The AMA’s Task Force to Reduce Prescription Opioid Abuse also supports increasing access to MAT for opioid use disorder.
If you are seeking to obtain your waiver to prescribe this life-saving medication, the Providers’ Clinical Support System (PCSS) is now offering certified MAT training for physicians.
The “half-and-half” training is completed in two parts:
- The first half of the course is 3.75 hours of online training on substance abuse treatment, opioids and the use of buprenorphine in the treatment of opioid use disorders. Physicians obtain their waivers after successfully completing an examination.
- The second half of the course is 4.25 hours of live training, which focuses on the specifics of treating patients with opioid use disorders in office-based settings and clinical vignettes to help trainees think through real-life experiences in opioid use disorder treatment.
