The Arizona Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee will consider Thursday whether to recommend expanding the number of medications to treat opioid dependency that are available to Medicaid enrollees.

Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, or AHCCCS, Arizona’s Medicaid agency that serves about 1.8 million people, only has one buprenorphine opioid treatment medication listed on the state’s preferred drug list, Suboxone.

Buprenorphine is a medication-assisted treatment option for people who are addicted to opioids, and there are many buprenorphine medications currently on the market.

Earlier this month, 22 Arizona physicians signed a petition, which they sent to the Pharmacy and Therapeutics committee, calling for AHCCCS to add all FDA-approved buprenorphine and naloxone drugs to the preferred drug list.

“While the medical impact of delays and disruptions on patient treatment is a concern for all medical conditions, with opioid dependence, especially with the Medicaid population, the impact is often life threatening,” the petition said. “A delay of even 24 hours to medications for our patients could result in compromising the patient’s health and impact family relations, employment, and result in possible criminal justice consequences.”

The petition said the current amount of medication is “falling far short of meeting the myriad needs of our patients, many of whom are the most vulnerable in our society.”

“We are asking you to make the state of Arizona a national leader in addressing this epidemic in a comprehensive manner that is driven by the physician and is in the best interest of the patient,” the physicians wrote.

Will Humble, executive director for the Arizona Public Health Association, said it is important that AHCCCS look to other states that have expanded their list before making their decision, adding that there are many factors that go into the decision.

“I intuitively feel like it’s better to have more treatment options,” he said. “But you need to be careful and not put a medication on the list with a higher risk for diversion.”

Humble said ideally the list would provide multiple options for patients, but still have a relatively low cost and a minimal risk of diversion, which is the illegal transfer of drugs from the patient to another person. Humble is testifying before the committee Thursday.

Suboxone’s maker, Indivior, was indicted in April by a federal grand jury in Virginia on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, mail fraud, and health care fraud for lying to doctors and patients by “engaging in an illicit nationwide scheme to increase prescriptions of Suboxone Film.”

“Indivior obtained billions of dollars in revenue from Suboxone Film prescriptions by deceiving health care providers and health care benefit programs into believing that Suboxone Film was safer,” a press release announcing the indictment said.

The indictment asserts that Indivior converted thousands of opioid addicted patients to their drug, “causing state Medicaid programs to expand and maintain coverage of Suboxone Film at substantial cost to the government.”

AHCCCS Director Jami Snyder would have the final say on adding medications to the preferred drug list, even if the committee does recommend expanding the number of medications. The public meeting begins at 9 a.m. Thursday, and the “opioid dependence treatments” discussion is 15th on the agenda for the day.