opioids
Dr. Steven Bodley, bottom left, chair of the College’s Methadone Committee and Dr. Chris Sankey, top right, addressed the attendees
at the day-long event.
Methadone prescribers share
insights, best practices
photo: D.W. Dorken
N
early 300 physicians who prescribe methadone attended a College-organized conference recently to discuss best practices.
The event, coordinated in partnership
with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health,
hosted speakers who addressed such issues as urine drug
screening, diversion, telemedicine and methadone and
buprenorphine in pregnancy.
The keynote speaker was Tara Gomes, a research
scientist at ICES and the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, who presented some disturbing numbers about
the societal toll of opioid addiction (please see article on
next page).
Dr. Steven Bodley, chair of the College’s Methadone
Committee told the physicians that the number of
patients receiving methadone maintenance treatment
(MMT) continues to climb. More than 41,000 patients
are receiving MMT from 424 Ontario physicians with
the exemption to prescribe methadone.
Physicians were welcomed to the meeting with comments from Registrar, Dr. Rocco Gerace who thanked
them for their important work in caring for patients.
Issue 4, 2014 Dialogue
59