Tricare soon may cover substance treatments - Military News | News From Afghanistan, Iraq And Around The World - Military Times

Tricare soon may cover substance treatments

The Defense Department is proposing to allow Tricare to pay for medical treatment and therapy programs using drug substitution therapy.

“For many, pain related to injuries must be treated for many months and such long-term use of pain medications has put our service members using those medicines at risk for dependence,” according to a DoD notice published in the Dec. 29 Federal Register.

Methadone and Suboxone are proven medications for treating opiate addicts, serving as lesser-of-evils substitutes for heroin and prescription painkillers like Vicodin and OxyContin. But medical substitution therapy, while covered by most private insurers, isn’t available to Tricare beneficiaries.

DoD’s proposed change comes after a decade of war in which painkillers have been prescribed to service members at record levels.

The change would allow Tricare to support medical treatment that combines prescribing therapeutic but known addictive substances for a known addictive drug with counseling.

Like methadone, Suboxone, a combination of buprenorphine and naloxone, helps eliminate the physical symptoms, like nausea and tremors, as well as the cravings of narcotics withdrawal.

It has been studied by DoD and is viewed by many addiction experts as a safer, more effective substitute than alternatives.

Under current policy, Tricare covers Suboxone only for intense detoxification. The new rule would allow the military health activity to support it for long-term maintenance treatment.

In their proposal, DoD officials said the current rule is outdated. “It 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.”

A 2010 Army report estimated one in seven soldiers has received a prescription for an opiate.

“This really makes it ever more important to ensure that all safe and effective treatments for substance dependence are available to our service members,” the proposal says.

The comment period on the proposed change ends Feb. 27.

Typically, the change would go into effect about 90 days after the final rule is published, Tricare spokesman Austin Camacho said.

Staff writer Andrew Tilghman contributed to this report.