A Novel Use of the "3-Day Rule": Post-discharge Methadone Dosing in the Emergency Department.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Methadone is a medically necessary and lifesaving medication for many patients with opioid use disorder. To adequately address these patients' needs, methadone should be offered in the hospital, but barriers exist that limit its continuation upon discharge. The code of federal regulations allows for methadone dosing as an inpatient as well as outpatient dispensing for up to three days to facilitate linkage to treatment. As a quality initiative, we created a new workflow for discharging patients on methadone to return to the emergency department (ED) for uninterrupted dosing.

Methods

Our addiction medicine team changed hospital methadone policy to better allow hospitalization as a window of opportunity to start methadone. This necessitated the creation of a warm-

SUBMITTER: Nikolaides JK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11254140 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature