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New OTI Electronic Bulletin Board Will Serve Methadone Programs

Directors of methadone maintenance treatment programs (MMTPs) can now access and exchange pertinent information on research, treatment, funding, and policy issues through the Treatment Improvement Exchange (TIE) Forum, OTI's new electronic bulletin board and mail system. The TIE Forum is provided by OTI to the offices of all the State alcohol and drug abuse directors. It will serve a variety of users, including State substance abuse agencies, OTI and other Federal staffs, and representatives from several criminal justice agencies and related national organizations. The Methadone Forum, a subset of the TIE Forum devoted exclusively to methadone-related themes, is available to MMTP directors and other methadone program staffs at cost by contacting Johnson, Bassin & Shaw, Inc. (see box).

MMTP directors will be especially interested in the Methadone Forum file, which will contain information relevant to the ongoing operation of methadone treatment centers. Other files included on the TIE Forum bulletin board service will be:

A calendar of upcoming events
Funding updates and OTI news
Job listings
The most recent issues of the TIE Communiqué
A member directory

The Forum's electronic mail service will allow users to send and receive everything from short messages to full WordPerfect files, and all E-mail items will be accessible only to the sender and receiver(s). Users may send messages to individuals via E-mail or use the bulletin board to offer information to the entire network.

The Forum is designed to be user-friendly, with simple, standardized commands that will allow users to view, store on hard disk, print, and send information. Forum files and features will be evaluated, modified, and updated regularly. A user feedback form will be put online to allow users to give immediate feedback on the service.

MTIP Priorities

OTI's new TA contract for methadone treatment providers will be focusing on the following priorities, as recommended by the OTI advisory committee of methadone treatment experts.

Develop and diseminate state-of-the-art information and treatment protocols on a variety of issues, including treatment assessment, treatment planning, dosing leels, take-home practices, discharge protocols, multiple substance abuse, coexisting narcotic addiction and mental illness, pregnant addicts, patients with HIV-spectrum disease, outcome evaluation, case management, successful treatment models, noncompliant patients (including noncompliant pregnant and HIV+ patients), and the integration of self-help programs into methadone maintenance treatment.
Develop new and innovative strategies for transferring information and knowledge to staff working in the field and to regulators, politicians, and the general public.
Develop and disseminate information on computerized patient recordkeeping systems as well as software and hardware that can be used for staff training, and encourage the use of computer systems for dispensing methadone.
Develop strategies to shift the regulatory emphasis away from the administrative process toward one of treatment-based standards of care and performance-based measurements of outcome.
Promote and enhance linkages with other systems with which methadone patients most frequently interface, specifically primary health care, criminal justice, self-help programs, and child welfare.
Develop strategies for confronting community resistance to methadone maintenance treatment programs by means of State TA efforts to improve ineffective programs and public information and community relations campaigns.
Promote and enhance training for treatment professionals in order to attract and retain qualified people.

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