PORTLAND, Maine - As part of the effort to deal with the nation's opioid crisis, the Obama administration is proposing to lift the cap on the number of patients a doctor can treat with buprenorphine. That's the generic name for Suboxone, a drug used to treat opioid addiction.
Right now, doctors certified to prescribe buprenorphine can treat up to 100 patients. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has proposed doubling that to 200.
At a press availability in Scarborough Tuesday, Maine Sen. Susan Collins said she strongly supports the idea. She said medically-assisted therapy has been shown to be effective, and that the 100-patient limit was not justified.
"Physicians have to take a course in how to administer these medications, so they are trained to do so," Collins said, "and, particularly in rural Maine, where substance abuse is not only a growing problem but the number of physicians available to treat people is very small."
Collins said she believes it will be demonstrated that physicians can handle even more than 200 patients, but said that the move to lift the cap on patients to 200 is a step in the right direction.
Buprenorphine is one of three medications currently approved by the FDA for treatment of opioid dependence.
