In September 2020, just as the first major peak of COVID-19 transmission began, Dr. Michael Repplinger opened Monarch Health, an addiction treatment clinic in Downtown Madison. An emergency room doctor at UW Hospital who also works at ERs in Darlington and Portage, Repplinger said he was prescribing initial doses of the addiction treatment medication buprenorphine, or Suboxone, to ER patients who had overdosed to help them avoid withdrawal and cravings. But he said he couldn’t find clinics to send them to for follow-up care.
University Communications