Answer Addiction

Tag: substance use disorder treatment

  • National Rating System For Addiction Treatment Being Tested In 5 States

    National Rating System For Addiction Treatment Being Tested In 5 States

    West Virginia is the latest state to announce its partnership with Shatterproof to test the rating system.

    According to the 2017 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), 1 in 12 American adults—that’s 18.7 million people—had a substance use disorder. Yet only a fraction of them will get help.

    A pilot program is hoping to change that by setting a standard for quality addiction treatment.

    Five states have teamed up with the non-profit organization Shatterproof to test this new rating system—Delaware, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York and West Virginia.

    “People who need help for addiction don’t know what to look for or where to turn. Right now, there is more transparent and credible information about the quality of your next refrigerator than an addiction treatment program,” said Samantha Arsenault, Director of National Treatment Quality Initiatives at Shatterproof. “We are taking rating system best practices from healthcare and other business sectors and applying them to addiction treatment. This will not only provide critical information to individuals looking for care but also drive a long overdue transformation of the addiction treatment industry.”

    The goal of the Shatterproof Rating System is to take the currently fragmented treatment industry and make it more transparent and accessible.

    “The quality of care varies widely among addiction treatment programs, and individuals looking for care can’t identify high-quality programs,” said Gary Mendell, founder and CEO of Shatterproof. “It is time a standard be set across all of addiction treatment, and the entire system aligns behind evidence-based care.”

    Arsenault says that a majority of treatment programs in the U.S. do not offer evidence-based treatment like addiction medication. The Rating System seeks to bring this to light and encourage more access to drugs like buprenorphine within a comprehensive treatment program.

    “One concrete example of that is that we are in the wake of an opioid epidemic and yet 60% of the specialty addiction treatment programs in the U.S. don’t offer a single medication to treat opioid use disorder,” she told Government Technology.

    The Rating System will go live in 2020, according to Shatterproof’s website. All treatment facilities in the pilot states will be invited to participate by completing a Treatment Program Survey.

    West Virginia was the latest state to announce its partnership with Shatterproof to test the rating system.

    “The substance use epidemic continues to impact individuals and families across West Virginia,” said Cabinet Secretary Bill J. Crouch of the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources. “We believe the results of this pilot program will enable us to ensure effective, quality substance use disorder services are offered across the state, which in turn will benefit those who need our help to combat this problem.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Federal Program To Help Addiction Treatment Providers With Student Loans

    Federal Program To Help Addiction Treatment Providers With Student Loans

    The goal of the new federal program is to strengthen the workforce in the field of addiction treatment. 

    If you work in the substance use treatment field in an underserved area, you may be eligible for student loan aid, thanks to a new federal program. 

    The program, according to MassLive, was launched Dec. 27 and will help health care clinicians repay up to $75,000 in student loans. For the first year, it has been funded with $75 million and officials hope to help repay loans for 1,100 clinicians.

    Israil Ali is the director of the Division of National Health Service Corps, which is an entity of the US Department of Health and Human Services agency that is overseeing the loan payment program. He says the overall idea of the program is to strengthen the workforce in the field of treatment. 

    “The goal is to ensure that sites that provide evidence-based care have the workforce to deliver care,” Ali said, according to MassLive.

    For those working in the substance use treatment field in areas considered underserved, the agency will pay up to $75,000 as long as the individual commits to working for three years in an underserved area.

    Boston Health Care for the Homeless doctor Gabriel Wishik began working at his facility through the repayment program and tells MassLive that such a program helps to bring in qualified candidates and increases the overall number of professionals in the field. 

    According to MassLive, it’s difficult for those with substance use disorder to find available treatment. This program will not aid in the issue of low treatment reimbursement rates, which can make it difficult for facilities to stay profitable. And, according to Wishik, “there is a shortage at every single level in the treatment continuum.”

    However, Wishik adds that programs such as this could prove helpful in leading people into the career field. 

    “There are lots of competing career paths,” he adds. “It’s one way to get people into this career.”

    The new program is similar to that of another offered by the agency, in which doctors in underserved areas can also have loan repayment. There is also a program for part-time workers, and in addition to doctors it is also open to nurses, pharmacists and substance use disorder counselors.

    In Massachusetts specifically, there are 89 substance use treatment facilities where employees could potentially benefit from the program. According to MassLive, these include Spectrum Health Systems’ treatment centers in Worcester and North Adams, the opioid treatment center at Providence Behavioral Health Hospital in Holyoke, and additional programs run by Baystate and by the Springfield Public Health Department. 

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Inadequate Mental Health Treatment Hinders Massachusetts Residents

    Inadequate Mental Health Treatment Hinders Massachusetts Residents

    Only about 50% of Massachusetts mental health providers accept payment from the state and federal Medicaid program. Private insurance isn’t much better.

    Patients in Massachusetts are struggling to receive adequate mental health care but not because of lack of insurance coverage. 

    The Boston Globe reports that based on a new Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation survey of 2,201 residents, more than half recently sought mental health or substance use disorder treatment but had difficulty receiving such treatment.

    Of those surveyed, 39% went without treatment altogether and about 13% resorted to an emergency room visit even though about half of those admitted that their care was not an emergency. 

    Though insured, the majority of patients struggled to find care because certain providers did not take their insurance or because practices were not accepting new clients at the time. 

    In October, the Globe reported that Massachusetts was home to more mental health care providers per capita than any other US state. It also has more psychiatrists than any other state, with the exception of Washington, DC, and more child psychiatrists than all states but Rhode Island and DC. 

    Even so, residents of the state are struggling. According to The Globe, only about 50% of Massachusetts providers accept payment from the state and federal Medicaid program. And private insurance isn’t much better, as only about half the psychiatrists in the Northeast accept it. 

    Audrey Shelto, president of the foundation that conducted the survey, told The Globe that this was the first time since the survey began a decade ago that it asked about mental health and substance use disorder treatment access.  

    “If change is going to happen at the magnitude that’s needed, it’s going to be necessary that we start building a more solid evidence base,” Shelto said.

    According to Shelto and others in the field, one possible solution would be paying psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers more, because private insurers and Medicaid currently do not pay them enough. Those in the practice also spend a great deal of time on applications for insurance networks as well as paperwork for patient treatment. 

    According to The Globe, Health and Human Services has stated that between 2016 and 2020, Medicaid is increasing fees to mental health providers by $100 million. 

    But Vic DiGravio, president of the Association for Behavioral Healthcare in Natick, told The Globe this isn’t enough to convince more providers to join the program. 

    DiGravio adds that access to prescribers such as psychiatrists are one of the biggest battles being faced currently. 

    “For a clinic to have a doctor on staff to see patients on a regular basis, the rates don’t cover their time,” he said.

    View the original article at thefix.com