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Doctors raise concerns about addiction treatment rules

Critics fear rules requiring specific counseling could encourage patients to avoid treatment
Suboxone is a buprenorphine with naloxone brand, and a medication assisted treatment that addiction specialists say should be used more, with psycho-social counseling, to help reduce opioid and heroin use and overdose. (Photo: Enquirer file photo)

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — Doctors in Ohio are raising concerns about rules requiring counseling for people who receive drug addiction treatment.

The Dayton Daily News reports state medical board currently requires patients to have counseling if they receive Suboxone, a drug used to treat addiction. The board has proposed rules specifying which types of counseling or therapy qualify.

Some doctors and other critics say rules requiring specific counseling could limit the number of doctors treating people with addiction, and encourage some patients to avoid treatment.

Mike Ward, managing partner at the treatment program Cornerstone Project, wants the medical board to enact more rules. He says some doctors operate cash-only clinics without referring patients to further treatment, which sometimes leads to patients selling their prescriptions on the streets.

The medical board could vote on the rules as early as April.

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