The negative sequelae of full mu agonist chronic opioid analgesic therapy (COAT) are numerous and well documented. One safer alternative to COAT use in chronic, non-cancer pain is a transition to buprenorphine. However, transitioning patients from methadone COAT regimens to buprenorphine can be challenging due to the pharmacodynamics of both agents, as well as to the limited commercial formulations of buprenorphine available and their restrictive instructions for use. Presented here are background, rationale and clinical case examples of patients transitioned to buprenorphine from methadone via a novel microinduction protocol during enrollment in an outpatient program.