EFFORT TO OPEN METHADONE CLINICS MAKES GRADUAL PROGRESS

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) - Health officials are making headway in their
efforts to open methadone clinics in Vermont but they say any program
is still months away.

The state has made some concessions in its negotiations with hospitals
considering hosting methadone maintenance programs. The Department of
Health has agreed to cover the cost of uninsured patients who enroll
in the programs, and indicated a willingness to raise considerably the
rate at which hospitals are reimbursed.

Thomas Perras, the director of the department's Office of Alcohol and
Drug Abuse Programs, said the state was committed to providing this
service to Vermonters addicted to opiates.

"We've got a lot of sick people out in the streets and our priority is
to get them help," he said Friday. "The key for us is getting them off
the street and using, and begin recovering."

It has been more than a year since the Legislature passed a law
allowing the use of methadone to treat heroin addiction. It has been a
hot button issue since then, with proponents and opponents publicly
squaring off to debate the merits of the treatment.

Estimates based on other programs suggest that just under half of the
patients would not have insurance

Perras said a reimbursement schedule had not been agreed upon with
officials from the three hospitals that had expressed interest in
starting the program. However, discussions do appear to be settling on
a dosage rate in the mid $20 range, a considerably higher figure than
the $5.50 the state had originally proposed.

That fee would cover the costs of the methadone as well as laboratory
costs, training for staff and in some cases increased security
personnel, Perras said.

Including both state and federal funding, there is a little more than
$1.3 million to fund the programs. That figure was based largely on
the $5.50 rate and was estimated to last for one year.

Hospital officials continue to tread carefully, wary of signing up for
a program that could have financial implications in the future if the
state fails to live up to its side of the bargain.

Representatives from Rutland Regional Medical Center and Fletcher
Allen Health Care in Burlington said this week they had not included
any funding for the programs in their 2000 budgets.