By: Dexter Braff
If you’re in the field of substance use disorders, you’re familiar with OTPs – Opioid Treatment Programs.
But to many, the phrase may conjure up an image of the type of dose-and-go establishment that seems to occupy a certain part of town.
Well, if you spent just one day at the American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence (AATOD) annual conference recently held in Baltimore, you’d quickly see that OTPs are a whole lot more than just methadone.
Right off the bat, there’s buprenorphine, an entirely different pharmaceutical regimen that offers therapeutic advantages to certain types of patients.
Then there’s the counseling. Much more than just a perfunctory pharmaceutical post-script, one look at the seminar offerings demonstrated that to the best-in-class operators, dynamic, innovative, and professionally delivered therapy is as much an integral part of the treatment protocols as the medications themselves.
And then there’s how OTPs fit in the whole, coordinated care, health care strategy du jour thing. There was evidence abound that opioid treatment providers see opportunities to integrate into other aspects of the health care delivery system, notably in tandem with primary care, “health homes,” and even the development of specialized “behavioral health homes.”
Finally, there was the passion for innovation: Hub and spoke models of care. Niche programs for dealing with pregnancy, hepatitis C, and the criminal justice system. Mobile technology and apps. Sub-dermal implantable buprenorphine (probuphine), and more.
Perhaps it’s time to rebrand the acronym from OTP to oTp, with the emphasis on Treatment.
But if you’re in the space, you already knew that.