TRICARE; Removal of the Prohibition To Use Addictive Drugs In The Maintenance Treatment Of Substance Dependence In TRICARE Beneficiaries

October 22, 2013
On October 22, 2013, the federal Department of Defense published a final rule permitting medication assisted treatment, to include drug maintenance involving substitution of a therapeutic drug with addiction potential, for a drug of addiction. The final rule allows TRICARE to cover, as part of otherwise authorized treatment of substance use disorder, utilization of a specific category of psychoactive agent when medically necessary and appropriate. Removal of the exclusion is based on recognition of the accumulated medical evidence supporting the use of certain pharmacotherapies as one component in the continuum of opioid treatment services. This rule goes . . .