SB 204 West Virginia Senate · 2025 Regular Session

Relating to opioid treatment programs

West Virginia's SB 204 requires opioid treatment programs (specifically those providing methadone) to transition to an integrated care model by July 1, 2026. This model mandates on-site medical, counseling, and recovery services provided in person at the program location during regular hours, prohibiting telehealth or referrals. Programs failing to comply must cease operations by October 1, 2026, though a 12-month administrative transition period allows existing patients to continue care without accepting new patients. Non-compliance incurs daily civil penalties up to $2,500, and the Director may seek court-ordered enforcement. The bill directly affects methadone treatment programs, excluding those issuing prescriptions for partial opioid agonists.

Issues: ✓ Healthcare

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2025

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Feb 12, 2025 Last action Mar 7, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced Version → Committee Substitute · 6 edits

MODERATE

The bill was revised from making opioid treatment programs unlawful to requiring them to transition to an integrated care model combining medical, counseling, and recovery services. The Committee Substitute adds specific deadlines for compliance, clarifies definitions, and expands the scope to require rulemaking. This changes the approach from a complete ban to a phased transition with defined timelines and requirements.

Scope change

Expanded from a blanket prohibition to a phased transition requirement with specific deadlines and integrated care model specifications.

REQUIREMENT

Changed from making opioid treatment programs unlawful to requiring transition to an integrated care model combining onsite medical, counseling, and recovery services.

Added requirement for Office of Drug Control Policy to propose rules for legislative approval.

TIMELINE

Added specific deadlines: transition to integrated care model by July 1, 2026, and cease operations by October 1, 2026 for noncompliance.

Extended administrative transition period from 120 days to up to 12 months for programs failing to meet requirements.

DEFINITION

Added definition of 'integrated care model' requiring onsite delivery of medical, counseling, and recovery services with prohibitions on referral or telehealth.

Narrowed definition of opioid treatment program to specifically include methadone while maintaining exclusion of partial opioid agonist medication prescribers.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Mar 7, 2025

Committee

To Health and Human Resources

upper

Mar 7, 2025

Upper · Passed

Committee substitute reported, but first to Health and Human Resources

upper

Feb 12, 2025

Introduced

Introduced in Senate

upper

1 primary · 1 co-sponsor