FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Patients realize the benefit of working with a local private company rather than a larger national franchise. As such, Sunrise is able to tailor our treatment recommendations to best meet the individual needs of each patient. Our approach to treatment is evidence-based and clinically proven to be effective. Sunrise has industry-leading patient outcome data and have applied our collective decades of expertise in the field to have helped thousands of patients since our founding in 2007. Sunrise has been a pioneer in the field on both the state and national level, developing a model of care for patients struggling with opioid use disorder that hadn’t been seen previously. Our buprenorphine-only opiate treatment program was the first of its kind in the state of Ohio and possibly the country. Sunrise worked with state leaders to develop the standards for our segment of this industry and in 2019 became the first buprenorphine-only OTP officially licensed by the state of Ohio under its new regulatory authority. With an established outpatient model of care, additional mental health services, pregnancy care, general medical services and fully in-house urine toxicology capabilities, Sunrise provides a holistic approach to care delivery that very few others can match.

These are two models of medication-assisted treatment for patients struggling with opioid use disorder. Up until Congress passed the DATA 2000 Act, opioid replacement therapy (i.e. using medications that activate the opiate receptors to help people with opiate addiction) was mainly being done using methadone and only available at federally-regulated opiate treatment programs (OTP’s). There was limited access to care at those facilities at the time (unfortunately still even today), and Congress agreed that the pharmacology and other safety features of medications containing the chemical buprenorphine justified allowing it to be prescribed by qualifying physicians. Those settings are called OBOT’s, or Office-Based Opioid Treatment programs. In general, such programs are:

- Mainly focused on prescribing the medication
- Have less capacity for providing more comprehensive treatment services
- Are less well-regulated, which can lead to inconsistent patient experiences
- Attract part-time medical professionals that do this work on the side (i.e. not their primary area of focus)
- Don’t have the same ability to protect against the diversion of treatment medications

An opiate treatment program (OTP) is a highly-regulated medication-assisted treatment construct with standard of care expectations set by multiple state and federal agencies. Given that the treatment medications are kept on-site to be provided to patients as part of their visits, OTP’s have to meet the requirements of the:

- Ohio Board of Pharmacy
- State of Ohio
- Drug Enforcement Agency
- Center for Substance Abuse Treatment / Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

OTP’s undergo an extensive accreditation process with a certifying organization, such as the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF). CARF applies 1,500 different standards when it comes to survey each OTP at maximum once every three years. To ensure the safety of the medication and its proper administration, Sunrise employs full-time medical providers who are fully-committed to Addiction Medicine as their careers.

Sunrise schedules intake appointments 5 days a week on all weekdays. We’re also able to accommodate walk-ins. We have a 24/7 answering service that connects any new patient wanting to make an appointment with our on-call clinical provider. We can typically arrange for same-day or next-day appointments, provided that the patient has transportation. In the case of patients desiring medication-assisted treatment with buprenorphine products for opioid use disorder, there does have to be a long enough period of non-use prior to initiating treatment medications.

Sunrise encourages all of its patients to participate in community-based recovery groups (e.g. AA, NA, SMART Recovery, Rational Recovery, etc.). We do offer a more intensive outpatient group (IOP) program onsite, but it is not mandatory for every patient.

No. Sunrise has a counseling-only option for patients with substance use disorders. Medication-assisted treatment options are typically more effective for patients with opioid use disorder, as well as alcohol use disorder, but those modalities are not always indicated or appropriate. Regardless of the substance use disorder, there is always a segment of people who do well on counseling alone.

The intake process usually takes around 3 hours. As a heavily regulated provider, there’s a lot of paperwork to complete. Additionally, you will have an initial assessment with the intake coordinator, complete a SUD history and physical with the medical provider (unless counseling-only), and then get testing with the nursing staff as well as receive medication (unless counseling-only).

For patients with opioid use disorder who are enrolling in medication-assisted treatment, the goal is to administer treatment medications on the day of intake. To safely initiate treatment with buprenorphine products, though, you have to be experiencing at least mild to moderate withdrawal symptoms. That typically requires a period of non-use of 12-24 hours for short-acting opioids to as long as 48-72 hours if you’re withdrawing from a long-acting opioid like methadone.

For patients with either alcohol or opioid use disorder who are desiring treatment with Vivitrol, medications to help to control any withdrawal symptoms will be provided on the day of intake to assist you in achieving a long enough period of non-use so that the first injection of Vivitrol can be provided. A similar approach would be taken for patients with any substance use disorder who prefer a counseling-only approach.

A recall is one way for us to verify that patients in medication-assisted treatment with us are safely storing and properly self-administering their medications at home. It has also become an expectation of many insurance companies that are paying the majority of the cost associated with these medications. When you receive a phone call from us notifying you of your recall, you have 24 hours from the time of that call to return to Sunrise with your medications in the appropriately-labeled original container. The nursing staff will inspect the container and contents to ensure that the correct amount of medications are present. Successfully completing recalls are a mandatory part of continuing medication-assisted treatment at Sunrise. Please DO NOT ignore the call you receive and make sure that we always have your correct phone number on file. If you are going to be out of town, be sure to inform your counselor that you will be gone.