5 Considerations when Choosing a Methadone Treatment Center

Methadone treatment has become a primary source of recovery for many who are dealing with opiate addictions. Unfortunately, choosing a methadone treatment center if you’ve never had to consider treatment for addiction before can be challenging and confusing at best. You’ll need to consider the following factors before you make a final decision on help for yourself or for someone you love:

Location

Methadone treatment must be easily obtained in order for the user to continue to attend the program. As such, when choosing a methadone treatment center to help you get sober, you’ll want to consider one that’s close to home. Attending treatment close to home ensures that you get the help that you need conveniently and that there are not transportation barriers that prevent you from getting your medication.

Inpatient or Outpatient

Most methadone treatment centers provide outpatient services allowing patients to get their medication daily and then to continue to live a semi-normal life outside of treatment. If you are heavily addicted and do not believe that you can maintain the methadone maintenance on your own without 24-hour, around-the-clock care, consider seeking an inpatient or residential treatment program.

Cost & Insurance Acceptance

Choosing a local methadone center will help you stay close with your loved ones.

Methadone treatment is often covered by major insurance companies, especially if you’ve never received such treatment before. Before choosing a methadone treatment center, consider the overall cost and whether or not your insurance is accepted by the facility. Even if all of the treatment is not covered by insurance, the costs and fees may be offset making the program more affordable to you overall.

Effectiveness

According to the CDC, higher doses of methadone have been proven to show a greater response in patients allowing them to remain in treatment longer, to be less apt to get involved in criminal activity and to stop heroin or opiate use. When choosing a methadone treatment center, discuss the effectiveness of their program and the level of methadone dosing that they find to be most adequate for their patients. According to the CDC, most patients will require 60-120mg daily.

Duration

How long is the program that you are choosing? Methadone maintenance programs are generally at least 90 days and often times 6 months or more. If you’re considering a program that provides a shorter duration of help, you may be making a poor choice as most doctors and treatment professionals can agree that methadone treatment should span at least 90 days before tapering off the medication slowly which can take another 3-10 weeks.