You are receiving this email because you are the authorized agent of a DHS-licensed opioid treatment program (245G.22).
Governor Walz recently signed a bill into law that includes several changes that impact the standards for opioid treatment programs in Minnesota Statutes, section 245G.22. These changes align state licensing requirements with the new version of the federal standards for opioid treatment programs in the Code of Federal Regulations, title 42, section 8.12 and update other state licensing requirements. This email contains an overview of these changes. The new statutory requirements replace all DHS variances to these subdivisions. These are only summaries, please reference the link to session law at the end of each section for the specific requirements.
This email only contains a partial list of changes to licensing requirements made this session and focuses on only the requirements in section 245G.22 due to the immediate effective date for most of the requirements. We will email you a summary of additional changes to licensing requirements in early June and a full implementation plan later this summer that will provide additional details about the changes.
Practitioner definition change: Removes the requirement for an advanced practice registered nurse or physician assistant to receive a variance to perform the duties of a practitioner in an opioid treatment program. This change aligns with the new federal standards. See MN Laws, Chapter 108, Article 4, Section 11.
Unsupervised use or take-home dose definition: Updates the definition for unsupervised use medications to include the term take-home dose to align with terms used in the federal standards. The terms unsupervised use and take-home dose have the same meaning. See MN Laws, Chapter 108, Article 4, Section 11.
Closed days: Aligns with the new federal standards which allow a program to choose to be closed on one weekend day, either Saturday or Sunday. Additionally, programs may continue to close for state and federal holidays. See MN Laws, Chapter 108, Article 4, Section 12.
Criteria for take-home use medications: Replaces the old criteria for determining if it is safe and appropriate for a client to have take-home doses with a citation to the revised 6-point criteria in the new federal standards. Clarifies that a practitioner must document the take-home doses determination and basis for the determination. See MN Laws, Chapter 108, Article 4, Section 12.
Number of take-home doses of methadone: Replaces the list of how many take-home doses of methadone a client may receive at a time, based on their number of days in treatment, with a reference to the new federal requirements for these amounts. The new federal requirements allow a client to receive more take-home doses earlier in their treatment. See MN Laws, Chapter 108, Article 4, Section 13.
Policies and procedures: Aligns policy and procedure content requirements with the new weekend closure days. See MN Laws, Chapter 108, Article 4, Section 14.
Counselor to client ratio: Adds flexibility to the counselor to client ratio requirements by allowing a program to determine the appropriate number of clients for each counselor if you maintain a program-wide ratio of one full-time equivalent (FTE) alcohol and drug counselor for every 60 clients. For example, one counselor can be responsible for 55 clients while a second counselor is responsible for 65 clients. See MN Laws, Chapter 108, Article 4, Section 14.
Removes high dose requirements: Repeals the requirement for a client to meet face-to-face with a practitioner before increasing a client’s dose above 150 milligrams of methadone or 24 milligrams of buprenorphine. See MN Laws, Chapter 108, Article 4, Section 28.
We will provide more details in the forthcoming implementation plan. If you have questions before then, please contact your licensor directly or email dhs.mhcdlicensing@state.mn.us.
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