Highlights the urgent need for physicians with extensive clinical experience to specialize in addiction medicine to improve treatment and fill a gap in care to address the nation’s growing drug overdose crisis.
“The opioid epidemic has underscored the impact of the physician shortage in this area, prompting medical institutions across the United States to create fellowships for physicians interested in treating substance-use disorders,” says Scott Howell, D.O., MPH &TM, CPE, chief medical officer, RDx. “Substance-use disorders must be treated with the same precision and science as other diseases, which is why RDx offers expertise in drug testing in addiction treatment settings. We provide a collaborative relationship and a high-quality lab for test panel selection, detecting sample tampering, interpreting test results, and regional drug use trends.”
In the past, addiction medicine has been the purview of psychiatry, but in 2015 the American Board of Medical Specialties (ACGME) began recognizing addiction medicine as a legitimate subspecialty, paving the way for physician training in this field. In 2018, ACGME began accrediting its first round of addiction medicine fellowship programs. Physicians can also turn to specialists to learn, for example, how to provide medication-assisted treatment like buprenorphine, which has been shown to reduce the risk of death among people who have recovered from an opioid overdose.
“Addiction treatment is a unique medical specialty, different than practices that focus on infectious or short-term disease, and it requires treatment programs and exceptional laboratory services to effectively address the nature of addiction and the needs of those who battle the opioid epidemic,” Howell adds, “RDx is committed to playing a role in helping individuals recover from drug abuse by directing the delivery of patient care using a high-technology laboratory to provide full-service diagnostics and genomic testing supported by evidence-based research.”
About RDx BioScience
RDx is a full-service, high-technology laboratory. We are fast, accurate, and deliver value-based service nationally. RDx is accredited by the College of American Pathologists (CAP) as a certified, full-service medical laboratory. Visit http://www.rdxbioscience.com/
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Source: RDx BioScience
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