30-Patient Limit
On August 2, 2005, President George W. Bush signed into law S. 45, legislation lifting the 30-patient group limit on buprenorphine prescribing. The buprenorphine bill is now officially Public Law 109-56. The law is effective date of enactment. The law strikes the clause in DATA 2000 which restricted prescriptions to 30 patients per practice.

Legislative History of Public Law 109-56 Public Law 109-56

H.R. 2361

S.45

President Bush's Statement on H.R. 2361

The Physician Clinical Support System (PCSS), run by the American Academy of Addiction Medicine, has produced a series of clinical guidance documents for prescribing physicians.  These are posted below.  For more information about the PCSS, click here.

 

Drug Abuse Screening Test (DAST-10) Questionnaire (DAST-10)
Skinner, HA, 1982 (07/22/07)

 

Drug Abuse Screening Test (DAST-10) Questionnaire (DAST-10) - Scoring
Skinner, HA, 1982 (07/22/07)

 

Yale opioid agonist scale to measure agonist activity in abstinent patients
(6/6/06)

DSM-IV worksheet to help make the diagnosis of "addiction"
(6/6/06)

 

 

 

PHYSICIAN CLINICAL SUPPORT SYSTEM:  GUIDANCES

PCSS Guidance: Accute Pain
(11/10/05)

PCSS Guidance: Monitoring of Liver Function Tests and Hepatitis in Patients Receiving Buprenorphine/Naloxone
(1/22/05)

PCSS Guidance: Physician Billing For Office-Based Treatment of Opioid Dependence
(01/08/05)

PCSS Guidance: Pregnancy and Buprenorphine Treatment
(03/21/05)

PCSS Guidance: Management of Psychiatric Medications in Patients Receiving Buprenorphine/Naloxone
(8/28/08)
 

PCSS Guidance: Transfer from Methadone to Buprenorphine
(10/11/06)

 

PCSS Guidance: Opioid Therapies, HIV Disease and Drug Interactions
(02/28/08)

 

PCSS Guidance: Psychosocial Aspects of Treatment in Patients Receiving Buprenorphine/Naloxone
(02/22/08)

Disclaimer for PCSS Clinical Guidances
The PCSS Clinical Guidances have been developed as a resource for interested physicians, but the PCSS program is only a vehicle for the sharing of knowledge and information; it is not a referral mechanism. While it is expected that inquiries presented to mentoring physicians will be based on fact patterns related to actual cases, remarks and opinions from mentoring physicians should be understood as being general in nature and not directed at a specific patient or case. Opinions and counsel from a mentor should not be used as a substitute for the opinion, judgment, and knowledge of the treating physician. No physician-patient or other relationship, expressed or implied, is created between a mentoring physician and any patient by virtue of participation in the PCSS program.