At the completion of this activity, participants will:
Define the historical influences regarding methadone dosing.
Describe data to evaluate modifications to individualized dosing protocols and the potential for increasing fentanyl abstinence rates utilizing variable therapeutic dose analysis for methadone treatment.
Identify areas for further research and the potential for the review of both federal and individual agency policies impacting dosing practices.
Presentation Summary: Throughout the course of clinical research, individual patient dosages have been titrated as clinically appropriate. Prior to the epidemic of fentanyl, there developed an increasing degree of parity in dosing practices as the medications efficacies were proximally gaged against a relatively stable knowledge of the of the illicit opioids used. It was almost, "by the book." That has all changed. Because of fentanyl, new challenges have emerged for understanding best practices in prescribing medications for treatment of opioid use disorder. We are in need of writing a new chapter as our work attempts to provide useful answers.
