Pharmacotherapy for Alcohol Use Disorder: Best Practices and Clinical Strategies
Created: September 2024
Online Module
Overview
Enhance patient outcomes when treating alcohol use disorder (AUD) by integrating Food & Drug Administration (FDA)-approved medications into your clinical practice. This 2-hour, interactive online module provides knowledge and tools to confidently integrate pharmacotherapy into your treatment plans. It covers the FDA-approved medications for AUD, including their mechanisms of action, efficacy, and safety profiles. You'll learn how to select appropriate medications based on individual patient factors, how to initiate and monitor treatment, and strategies for promoting medication adherence.
The target audience for this introductory level activity includes clinical healthcare professionals who prescribe medications in outpatient or inpatient settings.
This activity addresses the following ACGME Competencies: Patient Care and Procedural Skills; Medical Knowledge; Professionalism; and Systems-Based Practice
Learning Objectives
Upon completion, learners will be able to:
Examine the barriers in prescribing practices of non-addiction medicine prescribers and stigma in the context of health disparities and cultural factors.
Identify screening tools and criteria for diagnosis of AUD and co-morbidities.
Determine the most suitable FDA-approved medication (naltrexone PO and ER, acamprosate, disulfiram) based on the patient's clinical presentation.
Apply strategies for addressing patient’s concerns with MAUD.
Discuss the rationale for combining medications for AUD.
Registration Deadline: 08/10/2027
Close Access Date: 09/10/2027
Instructions
Click on the Contents tab to begin this activity.
Click Complete Post Test to answer multiple choice questions. Participants will have 10 attempts to pass and must answer 2 out of 3 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 e-Learning Center, clicking Dashboard, and clicking Transcript/Achievements.
Need Assistance?
For assistance logging in, accessing activities, claiming credit, or for other questions or concerns, please check the FAQ page, or contact pcss@asam.org.
Note for pharmacists: For courses offering CPE Credit, pharmacists must claim credit and provide their eProfile ID and Birthdate via the Pharmacist 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.
Melissa B. Weimer
DO, MCR, FASAM
Melissa Weimer, DO, MCR, FASAM is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Addiction Medicine. She is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Public Health and Associate Program Director of the Addiction Medicine Fellowship at Yale University. She is an expert in hospital-based care for patients with substance use disorders and has worked with colleagues to develop successful hospital-based Addiction Medicine Consult Services at both Oregon Health & Science University and Yale University/Yale New Haven Hospital. Dr. Weimer is also a national leader in Addiction Medicine education and has developed curricula for substance use disorder evaluation and treatment and safe and effective pain treatment. Dr. Weimer serves on the national board of ASAM and is the Chair of the ASAM Clinical Practice Guidelines Methodology and Oversight Committee.
No disclosures.
Alyssa Falleni
PharmD
Alyssa Falleni, PharmD, is a clinical pharmacist who received her Doctorate of Pharmacy from the University of Rhode Island. She recently completed a two-year fellowship in Health Professions Education, Evaluation, and Research in Substance Use Disorders and Related Harms at the VA Connecticut Healthcare System. She holds a clinical instructor appointment at the Yale School of Medicine in the Department of Psychiatry and works as an outpatient HIV Pharmacist at Hartford Healthcare, Connecticut. Her research and clinical interests are in improving medication access for people who use substances and identifying and addressing social determinants of health.
No disclosures.
Joshua Lee
MD, MSc
Joshua D. Lee MD, MSc is a Professor in the departments of Population Health and Medicine/General Internal Medicine and Clinical Innovation at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. He is Director of the NYU Fellowship in Addiction Medicine and Co-Director of DPH’s Section on Tobacco, Alcohol, and Drug Use. He is a clinician-researcher focused on addiction pharmacotherapies in primary care and criminal justice populations and leads the NYUGSOM Hub of the NIDA Justice and Community Opioid Innovation Network. He is a Science Advisor at Oar Health, an alcohol treatment provider.
Dislcosures: Indivior, in-kind study drug donation; Alkermes, in-kind study drug donation; Oar Health, Clinical Advisor
Lara Ray
PhD
Dr. Lara Ray received her PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Dr. Ray completed a predoctoral clinical internship at Brown University Medical School, where she stayed for a postdoctoral fellowship at the Brown University Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies. After her postdoctoral fellowship, Dr. Ray joined the faculty at the UCLA Clinical Psychology Program, where she is now a Full Professor. Dr. Ray also has academic appointments at the UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior and the UCLA Brain Research Institute. Dr. Ray has an active program of research on the clinical neuroscience of addiction. Her laboratory combines experimental psychopharmacology with behavioral genetic and neuroimaging methods to ascertain the mechanisms underlying addictive disorders in humans and apply these insights to treatment development. Dr. Ray has over 250 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters. Her program of research is funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) as well as the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Dr. Ray has received research excellence awards from the American Psychological Association (APA), the Research Society on Alcoholism (RSA), and the American College on Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP).
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.
Maintenance of Certification (MOC)/Continuing Certification Program (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, ABP, ABIM, and ABS. By completing the online credit application and evaluation, the learner permits ASAM to report credits to the appropriate Board. Learn more.
Additionally, this activity has been designed to satisfy the requirements of the following primary physician board certification requirements. Please confirm with your individual Board.
American Board of Addiction Medicine (ABAM)
American Board of Preventative Medicine (ABPM)
American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN)
Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC)
Certificates for other professions
All participants may request a certificate of participation upon completion of the activity and an online evaluation confirming their participation. Learners are strongly advised to contact their professional licensing board or professional association to confirm this certificate will be accepted as evidence supporting continuing education requirements.
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.
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.
See the attached pdf for a list of disclosures.
American Society of Addiction Medicine has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7062. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. American Society of Addiction Medicine is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.
MOCA 2.0® is a trademark of the American board of Anesthesiology®.
This activity contributes to the patient safety CME requirement for Part II: Lifelong Learning and Self-Assessment of the American board of Anesthesiology's (ABA) redesigned Maintenance of Certification in Anesthesiology Program® (MOCA®), known as MOCA 2.0®. Please consult the ABA website, https://www.theaba.org/, for a list of all MOCA 2.0 requirements.
The complete list of disclosures and designation statements are linked below.
Enter Pharmacist CPE Monitor Information (Required for Pharmacists)
2 Questions
2 Questions
Pharmacists and Pharmacist Technicians are required to enter their CPE Monitor reporting information. All other health professionals, including physicians, social workers, nurses, etc., should skip this step.
Pharmacists must complete credit claim withing 30 days of completion. Failure to do so will result in credits not being reported to ACPE. ASAM will not report credits claimed 31+ days after activity completion.
Up to 2.00 medical credits available | Certificate available
Up to 2.00 medical credits available | Certificate available
Attendees should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
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