Voluntary Reporting of Deaths While Patients Are in OTPs
(March 1, 2010)
   
QTc Interval Screening - AATOD Policy and Guidance Statement (March 30, 2009)
Opioid Treatment Programs (OTPs) should be responsible and vigilant about assessing for the risk of cardiac conduction disturbance in methadone maintained patients and policies should be guided by the evidence of risk for QTc prolongation and Torsade de Pointes (TdP). The threshold for determining guidelines for screening and monitoring must be balanced with the potential barriers to treatment access and the financial burden that routine screening places on patients and programs. AATOD takes the risk for QTc prolongation and TdP in methadone treated patients very seriously. While the literature argues for and against routine testing prior to admission to an OTP, the evidence does not justify routine electrocardiographic (ECG) screening for all methadone treatment patients and does not conclude at which dose level patient should obtain ECG screening (1, 2). The recommendations below represent our best guidance informed by more than 40 years of methadone treatment experience and the research to date.
   
Dosage Induction with Methadone in the OTP (April 25, 2008)
After months of careful deliberation and guidance from AATOD’s policy partners, I am pleased to forward AATOD’s Methadone Dosage Induction Advisory. The AATOD Board of Directors unanimously approved this document for distribution.

As you will note, the Advisory excerpts significant references from SAMHSA/CSAT’s TIP 43 “Medication-Assisted Treatment for Opioid Addiction in Opioid Treatment Programs (2005),” in addition to SAMHSA/CSAT’s Guidelines for the Accreditation of Opioid Treatment Programs (July 20, 2007) and Dr. Westley Clark’s correspondence to the field (September 4, 2007) concerning this topic.

AATOD is grateful to Janice Kauffman and the members of AATOD’s Policy Committee in addition to the AATOD Board of Directors for their efforts in bringing this Advisory to completion. We hope that people in our field will find it to be of value in their deliberations as patients are inducted into treatment
   

AATOD's Five-Year Plan: 2007 - 2007 (approved March 16, 2007)
After lengthy deliberation, the AATOD Board of Directors approved our Associations new Five-Year Plan (2007-2011) on March 16, 2007. It provides a strategic blueprint for AATODs leading initiatives, building upon the success of the original Five-Year Plan (2001-2006).

The Plan details AATODs initiatives in improving treatment quality,
supporting patient advocacy, working with the criminal justice system, enhancing workforce development and organizing OTPs within the United States and abroad.

In our collective judgment, this Five-Year Plan focuses AATODs activities and projects in a way that will provide continued guidance to our treatment system during extremely challenging times.

   
Guidance Policy Statement for Infectious Disease Testing in OTPs (September 14, 2006)
It provides guidance to OTPs throughout the United States with regard to identifying and facilitating preventative and comprehensive treatment measures for our patients, as indicated in the attached policy statement.
   
AATOD Guidelines for Guest Medication (September 15, 2005) (PDF)
We are pleased to add AATOD’s latest policy recommendations to our field with regard to guest medication dosing for patients as they travel from one state to another. Rico Bilangi (Chair – AATOD’s Program Management Committee) and his associates (Pat Robertson, Steve Flora, Terry Willis, Debbie Sikorski).developed this policy guidance statement and recommended a guest medication dosing form. The form has been reviewed by the State Methadone Authorities, patient advocates and methadone program administrators and has been approved by the AATOD Board of Directors. AATOD is of the hope that OTPs will use this form and follow the principles of the guidance statement as patients require guest medication at different facilities throughout the United States.
   
Public Policy Statement on Office-based Opioid Agonist Treatment (OBOT) (March 25, 2005)
This policy statement was constructed by AATOD in response to the ASAM OBOT policy statement (http://asam.org/ppol/OBOT.htm)
   

Shelf Life for Methadone Hydrochloride Products (June 11, 2004)
There has been increasing interest in the shelf life of methadone hydrochloride products once OTP personnel have mixed the medication and dispensed it in take-home dosages. This interest has increased following the publication of CSAT's accreditation regulations, which provides greater clinical flexibility in prescribing take-home medications
   
Training OTP Medical Practitioners (March 19, 2004)
This statement provides guidance to OTP's in retaining trained medical practitioners.
   
Medical Maintenance Treatment and OBOT (December 9, 2003)
These guidelines were formally adopted by a unanimous vote of the Board of Directors during the Board meeting of December 6, 2002. This policy focuses on the use of existing methadone treatment programs as hub sites in referring stabilized patients to off-site /affiliated medical practice settings.
   
Guidelines for Involuntary Withdrawal from OTP Treatment Due to Non-Payment of Fees (July 21, 2003)
They guidelines provide directions to OTP's in withdrawing methadone maintained patients from their stable maintenance dose when they are unable to pay for treatment. These guidelines are written with the understanding that the majority of patients being treated in OTP's generally receive methadone maintenance doses between 70 mg - 120 mg. The OTP is advised to use sound medical judgment, drawing upon the principles of these guidelines, in tapering the dose of patients who are maintained at higher levels.
   
Expert Panel on Clinical Guidelines on LAAM (February 2002)
These are clinical guidelines for the prudent use of LAAM recommended by the independent Expert Panel sponsored by CSAT. Separate, but similar, guidelines are provided for patients who are already on LAAM and wish to continue the medication, and patients who are being newly considered for LAAM therapy.
   
AATOD's Five Year Plan for Methadone Treatment in the United States (October 2001)
This plan includes 10 critical elements, which are integral to the successful expansion of methadone treatment services in the United States. It was officially approved by the AATOD Board of Directors during October 2001.