This summer, jails in King County expanded offerings for medically-assisted treatment to help people with addictions.
The jails have been providing methadone treatments through a third-party vendor. In June, officials added another medication called buprenorphine.
Dr. Ben Sanders, medical director for the jail health services division, says this change has been especially helpful for people entering jails who already have a prescription for buprenorphine.
“This is an example of providing for continuity of care for this type of stabilizing medication. It just happens that this medication is used to treat opioid-use disorder, as opposed to diabetes or high blood pressure or any other medical condition basically,” he said.
Sanders say the jails are now able to offer buprenorphine because of a change in federal law that allows nurse practitioners to prescribe it. He explains only doctors were able to before, and that became a major obstacle because doctors weren’t always readily available to write prescriptions.
Snohomish County also has been using the medication in its jails since the beginning of the year as part of a pilot program.