By Patrice A. Harris, MD, MA, Chair, AMA Opioid Task Force; Bobby Mukkamala, MD, Chair AMA Pain Care Task Force
Updated July 20, 2020
The words we use to describe someone can influence attitudes, beliefs, and behavior toward them, including the care decisions physicians make.
The American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence (AATOD)
Putting Evidence Into Practice: Buprenorphine Maintenance vs. Methadone Maintenance or Placebo for Opioid Use Disorder. Elizabeth Salisbury-Afshar, MD, MPH, Heartland Health Outreach, Chicago, Illinois. Am Fam Physician. 2015 Feb 1;91(3):165-166.
Many patients with opioid use disorder are treated in primary care, where effective addiction treatment can be provided. Family physicians are ideally positioned to diagnose opioid use disorder, provide evidence-based treatment with buprenorphine or naltrexone, refer patients for methadone as appropriate, and lead the response to the current opioid crisis. Am Fam Physician. 2019 Oct 1;100(7):416-425.
The AMA Opioid Task Force urges physicians and other health care professions to continue taking action to help reverse the nation’s opioid epidemic—and the Task Force also calls on policymakers to take specific steps to remove barriers to evidence-based care for patients with pain and those with a substance use disorder.
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to reverse the nation’s opioid epidemic.