Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #118751

Ernest Drucker, PhD, Department of Epidemiology & Social Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Montefiore Medical Center, 111 East 210th St., Bronx, NY 10467, 718-920-4766, drucker@aecom.yu.edu, Karen A. Bonuck, PhD, Department of Epidemiology and Social Medicine, Montefiore Medical Center, 111 East 210th Street, Bronx, NY 10467, Gerry Ganse, Ganse Family Apothecary, 355 W. King Street, Lancaster, PA 17603, and Samuel Rice, MD, General Internal Medicine of Lancaster, American Society of Addiction Medicine, 2301 Columbia Avenue, Lancaster, PA 17603.

As part of a NIDA multi-site study of OBOT we report on two years experience with primary care physician prescribing and community pharmacy dispensing of methadone to 14 stable patients in Lancaster, PA – which has no methadone clinic. All clients are working and in treatment > 3 years in a clinic 50 miles away. Weekly dispensing occurs at the Ganse Apothecary, a family owned community pharmacy whose pharmacists and technicians spend 2.5 - 3.0 hours weekly filling, labeling, and maintaining records. The dispensing process and payment, including an observed dose in a closed room, takes approximately 5 minutes. Pharmacy charges are $35.00/week. Patients meet monthly with the prescribing physician in his office for review of their status , urine toxicology, and individual counseling for a charge of $70/visit – saving patients $80.00/month (compared to clinic care) and two hours travel.

The pharmacists experience and satisfaction with dispending methadone and dealing with these patients was uniformly positive – they found it “professionally gratifying”, remarked on “appreciating these patients and feeling very comfortable with them”. Patients “were very pleased“ with the system (the pharmacists “treated me like a human being, like a regular person.”) and inconspicuous “the average person who walks in here would have no idea” they were methadone patients. Retention in the program is 86%at 18 months - 14% left the area or returned to the clinic for insurance or administrative reasons.

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