Shortage of Medication-Assisted Treatment Providers a Growing Concern

Concern about a shortage of clinicians to provide medication-assisted treatment for opioid dependence is creeping into workers’ comp, as payers are becoming more willing to cover the therapy for injured workers. In medication-assisted treatment, a patient takes certain types of opioids that help curb cravings for the drugs while not producing as much of a high. The commonly used MAT drugs are methadone, buprenorphine and naltrexone. “MAT, coupled with counseling and patient-centric, individualized treatment plan, can be quite effective,” Joe Paduda, principal of Health Stra...