State Medicaid Program Limits Access to a Drug Treatment, Upsetting Advocates (Baltimore Sun)

As heroin and other opioid-related overdose deaths continue to rise across Maryland, some who treat addiction are criticizing a move by the state to limit access to a drug treatment used by thousands of patients and considered effective.

The state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene changed this month the list of drugs preferred by Medicaid to exclude Suboxone Film, a small, medication-infused sheet that dissolves under the tongue and is used to taper addiction by interrupting the effects of opioids in the brain.

The health insurance program for the poor replaced the film with a pill called Zubsolv.

 

Read More at: http://www.baltimoresun.com/health/maryland-health/bs-hs-film-v-pill-201...

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