Medication-Assisted Treatment for Addiction Raises Questions

As treatment of injured workers’ opioid addiction is finding its way into more workers’ comp claims, the industry’s next debate could turn out to be over what type of addiction treatment is best. Medication-assisted treatment is an option that uses milder forms of opioids to keep patients off of more potent drugs. In addition to methadone, which has been used for decades to treat opioid addiction, there is buprenorphine, which was approved for clinical use in 2002. Medication-assisted treatment can help reduce recidivism and may help speed the detoxification process, accord...