Good news for our military in regards to maintenance treatment and TRICARE

In the Past long term Buprenorphine or Methadone Maintenance has bot been covered by the Department of Defense's TRICARE insurance program. The program currently limits treatment to short term detoxification.

According to the Courthouse News Service The U.S. military's insurance provider will be allowed to use methadone to treat heroin addiction in long-term drug treatment under new regulations proposed by the Defense Department.
Currently, the insurer, Tricare, will authorize prescriptions of substitute opiates only for short-term detoxification of addicts and forbids coverage for drugs that would "support or maintain an existing or potential drug abuse situation."
But the Pentagon said this week that that prohibition "is outdated and fails to recognize the accumulated medical evidence supporting certain maintenance programs as one component of the continuum of care necessary for the effective treatment of substance dependence."
The new rules would apply to all addictive substitute drugs used as part of a medically supervised drug abuse maintenance program

To review the new proposed rule please visit:
http://insurancenewsnet.com/article.aspx?id=320650
Proposed rule.

CFR Part: "32 CFR Part 199"

RIN Number: "RIN 0720-AB54"

Citation: "76 FR 81899"

Document Number: "DOD-2011-HA-0085"

Page Number: "81899"