Researchers from Yale University "investigated the use of counseling and different frequencies of medication dispensing in primary care treatment with buprenorphine-naloxone. Neither the primary outcomes (the frequency of illicit opioid use, the percentage of opioid-negative urine specimens, and the maximum number of consecutive weeks of abstinence from illicit opioids) nor the proportion of patients who completed the study differed significantly among the three groups. Specifically, outcomes among patients receiving brief counseling combined with once-weekly medication dispensing did not differ significantly from outcomes among patients receiving either extended counseling or thrice-weekly medication dispensing did not differ significantly from outcomes among patients receiving either extended counseling or thrice-weekly medication dispensing. Patient satisfaction was significantly higher with once-weekly than with thrice-weekly medication dispensing, although because of the large number of statistical tests conducted, this may represent a chance finding."
Fiellin, David A., MD, Michael V. Pantalon, PhD, Marek C. Chawarski, PhD, Brent A. Moore, PhD, Lynn E. Sullivan, MD, Patrick G. O'Connor, MD, MPH, and Richard S. Schottenfeld, MD, "Counseling plus Buprenorphine-Naloxone Maintenance Therapy for Opioid Dependence," New England Journal of Medicine Vol. 355, No. 4, July 27, 2006, pp. 370-371.
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/r…
