Minnesota makes changes to speed access to opioid treatment drugs
Physicians will no longer need to obtain prior approval from the state agency that runs the health insurance program for the poor, a process that often caused dangerous delays and sent some patients back to using heroin or prescription drugs as a way to cope with intense withdrawal symptoms.
The decision will be announced Friday morning by Minnesota Human Services Commissioner
The requirement has already been dropped by Medicaid programs in some other states and by most of the private insurers in
The change comes after the
The paperwork burden on many clinics has been so great that they dedicate one employee whose main job is to submit, track and sometimes plead with the state to approve treatment drugs, which go by the names buprenorphine, Suboxone as well as others.
"Prior authorization for opioid treatment is killing people and there is no excuse," said Sen.
"I am really troubled by the idea that somebody who may not have any medical training and certainly has not seen a patient is making a decision that should be made by doctors," Marty said.
Medical Assistance, as Medicaid is known in
Cold sweats and goose bumps
Last month, Deputy Human Services Commissioner
However, clinics told the
"This will make a huge difference," said Dr.
Federal law requires doctors to obtain special permission from the
"There is no evidence that eliminating prior authorizations will lead to changes in safety or diversion," Aylward said. "It is safer than many medications that are already being prescribed and certainly safer than opioids."
The drugs help patients cope with withdrawal symptoms and are typically used as part of a wider treatment program that address underlying issues such as anxiety or depression, as well as challenges such as homelessness and unemployment.
"It is medication-assisted treatment, not medication as treatment," said Dr.
But timing, physicians say, is critical in the use of the treatment drugs.
"If you take it too early, it makes people go into worse withdrawal," said Dr.
Delays caused by prior authorizations can upset the timing and leave the patient without a way to handle powerful withdrawal symptoms.
Ryan said patients have told him that withdrawal creates cold sweats, feelings of foreboding, goose bumps, jumpiness and a sense "that you are not human." One of his patients described it this way: "It is as if the bone marrow started to expand against your muscles but your skin didn't stretch."
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