Some Emergency Rooms Have Begun to Offer Addiction Treatment

Some emergency rooms in Maryland have begun to offer addiction treatment, The Washington Post reports.

Most emergency rooms give patients with drug-related conditions the phone number of local treatment clinics, according to Andrew Kolodny, Co-Director of the Opioid Policy Research Collaborative at Brandeis University.

In 11 Maryland hospitals, emergency room physicians treating patients who have overdosed on opioids start them on the anti-addiction medication buprenorphine. An additional 18 Maryland hospitals are planning to start prescribing buprenorphine.

A study published last year found patients addicted to opioids who were given an initial dose of buprenorphine in the ER were twice as likely to be in treatment a month later, compared with those who were only given referrals to addiction treatment specialists.