
Methadone Initiation for Opioid Use Disorder in the Emergency Department
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Register
- Non-Member - $39
- Regular Member - $29
- Retired - $29
- Early Career Physician - $29
- Resident - $19
- Student - $19
- Associate - $19
- ASAM Staff - Free!
- International Member - $29
- Emeritus Member - $29
- Provisional Member - $29
- Fellow Member - $29
- Honorary Member - $29
- CRT Member - $29
Methadone Initiation for Opioid Use Disorder in the Emergency Department
Recorded: Thursday, April 24, 2025 to Sunday, April 27, 2025
On-Demand Session
Overview
This 75-minute on-demand session from the ASAM 56th Annual Conference addresses methadone's role in OUD treatment, regulatory factors affecting ED initiation, and guideline-based approaches for safe dosing in emergency settings.
Discover how emergency departments can play a critical role in addressing the opioid crisis by initiating methadone treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD). This engaging presentation will tackle common barriers to methadone use in EDs, debunk myths around regulatory challenges, and showcase collaborative models with opioid treatment programs. Attendees will leave equipped with actionable strategies and clinical pathways to effectively integrate methadone initiation, increase patient engagement, and save lives in the face of the opioid epidemic.
The target audience for this Advanced level session includes physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, other clinicians, researchers, residents, fellows, students, and counselors.
This session addresses the following ACGME Competencies:Patient Care and Procedural Skills, Systems-based Practice.
This session addresses the following IPEC Competencies: Values and Ethics, Roles and Responsibilities.
Learning Objectives
- Upon completion, participants will be able to describe the pharmacologic properties, risks, and benefits of methadone treatment in OUD treatment.
- Upon completion, participants will be able to understand the regulatory and geographic considerations of OTPs and their impact on ED-based methadone initiation.
- Upon completion, participants will be able to apply ASAM Clinical Practice Guidelines to establish safe methadone dosing protocols for ED settings.
Registration Rates
Rate Description | Rate |
ASAM Member | $29 |
Non-Member | $39 |
Associate Member | $19 |
Resident Member* | $19 |
Student Member* | $19 |
*Residents, Fellows-in-training, Interns, and Students must join ASAM to receive a discounted registration rate. Click here to become an ASAM member. National and Chapter membership dues apply. There is no charge for Students to become a Member, but verification of student status is required.
Membership Question? Call ASAM at 1.301.656.3920, email us, or view the ASAM website for more information.
Refunds & Cancellations
All ASAM eLearning Center refund requests must be made in writing to education@asam.org within 90 days of purchase. Those requesting refunds for courses that are in progress will receive partial refunds or e-Learning Center credit. Automatic full refunds will be made for any course with a live-course component that has been cancelled.
Registration Open: 05/26/2025 - 04/26/2028
User Access Closed: 05/26/2028
Course Instructions
- Click on the Contents tab to watch the on-demand recording.
- Click Complete Post Test to answer multiple choice questions. Participants will have 10 attempts to pass and must answer 4 out of 5 questions correctly.
- Click Complete Evaluation to provide valuable activity feedback. Scroll down on all questions as there may be answer options that expand past the size of the window.
- Click the button Claim Medical Credits in the box titled Claim Credits & Certificate. Choose the type of credit and click submit. Click the button View/Print Certificate to save or print your certificate. You can view/print your certificate at any time by visiting the ASAM eLearning Center, clicking Dashboard, and clicking Transcript/Achievements.
- For Pharmacists ONLY: Complete the task entitled "Enter Pharmacist CPE Monitor Information (Pharmacists Only)". Pharmacists must claim credit and provide their eProfile ID and Birthdate via the Pharmacist CPE Monitor Information survey within 30 days of completing the activity. ASAM will not report CPE Credits claimed 30+ days after activity completion to ACPE. ASAM will not report CPE Credits without accurate and complete information. Courses offering CPE Credit will indicate the amount of credit available for pharmacists on the Credits & Disclosure Tab.
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Rachel Haroz
MD
Rachel Haroz, MD FAACT is Associate Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University and Division Head of Toxicology and Addiction Medicine. She is board certified in Emergency Medicine, Medical Toxicology and Addiction Medicine, obtaining her BA in Biology from Brandeis University, her MD from Tufts University and completed a residency in Emergency Medicine and fellowship in Medical Toxicology. She has spent the last 20 years working in inner city emergency departments, mostly in the Camden area. She helped build and now staffs the Outreach Clinic at the Urban Health Institute at Cooper University Hospital in Camden New Jersey, an addiction medicine specialty clinic dedicated to treating patients with substance use disorders and helped build an integrated clinic for patients with HIV and substance use disorders.
In 2016 she helped create and implement BupeFirst ED, an initiative to prescribe buprenorphine from the Emergency Department and bridge patients to treatment to various community partners and in 2019 helped launch BupeFirst EMS, an innovative program aimed at initiating buprenorphine via paramedics in the field. She is also heavily involved in education as well as various NJ state initiatives to better serve patients struggling with substance use disorders.

Bill Soares, MD, MS
Assistant Professor
University of Massachusetts Medical School
Dr. William (Bill) Soares is the Director of Harm Reduction Services in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, MA and an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School-Baystate. He is a practicing emergency and addiction medicine physician researcher, who has spent the past 10 years focused on expanding medication treatments and harm reduction services for emergency department patients with opioid use disorder. In his role as Director of Harm Reduction Services, Dr. Soares oversees take-home Narcan, harm reduction safer supply distribution, buprenorphine and methadone induction programs throughout the four emergency departments in the Baystate Health System.
Bills research focuses on clinical decision-making in the emergency department. He has completed a NIDA K08 (1K08DA045933-01) project evaluating provider decisions to prescribe discharge opioid medications to patients presenting with an acutely painful condition. He currently has federal grants from NIDA, AHRQ, and SAMHSA focused on expanding medication treatment and harm reduction for people with substance use disorders. Recently, he led efforts to create a comprehensive inpatient addiction consultation services for the three Baystate community hospitals through a state level opioid settlement fund grant administered through the Massachusetts Bureau of Substance use and Addiction Services (BSAS).

Ryan McCormack, MD, MS
Associate Professor
NYU Grossman School of Medicine
Ryan McCormack, MD, MS, is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine and practices clinically in the Bellevue Hospital Emergency Department (ED). He is an NIH-funded clinical investigator who has led several multicenter trials with a history of funding from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and its Clinical Trials Network (CTN) and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). His research employs mixed quantitative and qualitative methods and implementation science approaches to translate efficacious behavioral treatments (e.g., motivational interviewing, case management) and pharmacotherapy (buprenorphine, methadone, naltrexone) for substance use disorders into ED settings with a particular focus on highly marginalized patient populations.
Accreditation & Credit Designation Statements
Joint Accreditation Statement

In support of improving patient care, the American Society of Addiction Medicine is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.
Physicians
The American Society of Addiction Medicine designates this enduring material for a maximum of 1.25 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Nurses
This activity awards 1.25 Nursing contact hours.

PAs
ASAM has been authorized by the American Academy of PAs (AAPA) to award AAPA Category 1.25 CME credit for activities planned in accordance with AAPA CME Criteria. This activity is designated for 1.25 AAPA Category 1 CME credits. Approval is valid until 05/06/2028. PAs should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation.
Pharmacists
This activity will offer 1.25 pharmacy contact hours (.125 CEUs). Pharmacists will be asked to provide identifying information (e-Profile ID and DOB in MMDD format) in order to receive credit and allow reporting to CPE Monitor. (UAN: JA0000141-0000-25-021-H01)
Note for pharmacists: Not all courses offer CPE Credit. For courses that do offer CPE Credit, pharmacists must claim credit and provide their eProfile ID and Birthdate via the Pharmacist CPE Monitor Information survey within 30 days of completing the activity.
ASAM will not report CPE Credits claimed 30+ days after activity completion to ACPE. ASAM will not report CPE Credits without accurate and complete information.
Social Workers
As a Jointly Accredited Organization, ASAM is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved under this program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. Social workers completing this course receive 1.25 general continuing education credits.
IPCE Credit
This activity was planned by and for the healthcare team, and learners will receive 1.25 Interprofessional Continuing Education (IPCE) credits for learning and change.
California Association for Drug/Alcohol Educators (CAADE)
This educational program is approved by CAADE: #CP40 999 1225.
California Association of DUI Treatment Centers (CADTP)
This educational program is approved by CADTP: #205.
California Consortium of Addiction Programs and Professionals (CCAPP)
This educational program is approved by CCAPP: #OS-20-330-1224.
Other Professions - Continuing Education Credits (CEUs)
Upon completion of the activity and online evaluation, all other participants may request a certificate of participation. Participants may submit this certificate of participation to their professional organization/institute as documentation for completing this accredited continuing activity.
Maintenance of Certification (MOC) or Continuing Certification Programs (CCP)
This activity is designed to meet the requirements for MOC/CCP for several primary physician boards and for state licensing CME requirements. MOC Credit is only reported and designated for ABA, ABIM, ABP and ABS. By completing the online credit claim and evaluation, the learner permits ASAM to report credits to the appropriate Board. Learn more.
American Board of Anesthesiology (ABA)
Successful completion of this CME activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the participant to earn up to 1.25 Medical Knowledge MOC points and patient safety MOC credit in the American Board of Internal Medicine's (ABIM) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program. Participants will earn MOC points equivalent to the amount of CME credits claimed for the activity. It is the CME activity provider's responsibility to submit participant completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting ABIM MOC credit.
American Board of Anesthesiology (ABA)
This activity offers up to 1.25 CME credits, of which 1.25 credits contribute the patient safety CME component of the American Board of Anesthesiology’s redesigned Maintenance of Certification in AnesthesiologyTM (MOCA®) program, known as MOCA 2.0®. Please consult the ABA website, www.theABA.org, for a list of all MOCA 2.0 requirements.
Maintenance of Certification in Anesthesiology® and MOCA® are registered certification marks of the American Board of Anesthesiology®
American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM)
Successful completion of this CME activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the participant to earn up to 1.25 Medical Knowledge MOC points and patient safety MOC credit in the American Board of Internal Medicine's (ABIM) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program. Participants will earn MOC points equivalent to the amount of CME credits claimed for the activity. It is the CME activity provider's responsibility to submit participant completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting ABIM MOC credit.
American Board of Pediatrics (ABP)
Successful completion of this CME activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the learner to earn up to 1.25 MOC points in the American Board of Pediatrics’ (ABP) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program. It is the CME activity provider’s responsibility to submit learner completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting ABP MOC credit.
American Board of Preventive Medicine (ABPM)
This activity has been designed to satisfy the Lifelong Professional Development requirements of The American Board of Preventive Medicine’s Continuing Certification (CCP) requirements. These credits are not reported directly to ABPM. Please save your certificate for your records.
American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN)
This activity has been designed to satisfy the CME requirements of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology’s Continuing Certification (CC) requirements. These credits are not reported directly to ABPN. Please save your certificate for your records.
American Board of Surgery (ABS)
Successful completion of this CME activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the learner to earn credit toward the CME requirement of the American Board of Surgery’s Continuous Certification program. It is the CME activity provider's responsibility to submit learner completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting ABS credit.
Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC)
The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada will recognize activities registered for CME for MOC as meeting the requirements for Royal College MOC Program Section 3 (Self-Assessment Programs) credits. Visit CME that Counts for Royal College MOC for more information.
Disclosure Information
In accordance with the disclosure policies of ASAM and Joint Accreditation, the effort is made to ensure balance, independence, objectivity, and scientific rigor in all accredited continuing education activities. These policies include identifying and mitigating all relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies for those involved in the creation and dissemination of accredited continuing education. Click here to view the full disclosure listing.
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