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The expanded scope of the Medicaid program has accomplished a great deal in bolstering substance use treatment, but further progress will depend on correcting deficiencies in non‐expansion states and within Medicaid managed care entities, a newly published commentary suggests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health care payments continue to evolve and shift away from fee‐for‐service payment systems that typically reward volume and move to value‐based payment (VBP) models that incentivize high‐quality, cost‐effective care. While this is happening more for physical health services, there's more uncertainty about the role of behavioral health. A new white paper aims to tackle that question with information about existing models that have been implemented along with recommendations for federal and state policymakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intensive outpatient and partial hospitalization or day treatment programs can provide more intensive levels of care with multiple types of therapy, more frequent sessions with mental health professionals, and clinically informed care coordination and case management. This observation on residential treatment is included in a new white paper released this month by the National Association for Behavioral Healthcare (NABH). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) working paper from Jennifer L. Doleac and Anita Mukherjee, which found that greater opioid abuse and opioid-related crime has resulted from laws expanding access to the overdose-rescue drug naloxone. According to the study, there is no evidence that naloxone leads more people to search for fentanyl.

The article reports that the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT) issued a white paper on October 6, 2016 stating social stigma as a major issue in accessing mental health treatment. Topics discussed include the potential of marriage and family therapists in rendering mental health services on issues like depression, anxiety and addiction, the approach of CAMFT in promoting access to mental health treatment, and the formation of a public outreach committee.

There have been many calls for federal changes to address the opioid epidemic, but one from Beau Kilmer, senior policy researcher and director of the Drug Policy Research Center at the RAND Corporation, released last week is a particularly interesting distillation that doesn't omit pros and cons for each strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary manner by which states have been using Medicaid to expand access to substance use disorder (SUD) treatment may actually be making it more difficult for individuals to receive the services most appropriate to their needs, a newly released paper suggests. Moreover, this preferred strategy in many cases violates the law, authors with the National Health Law Program contend. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An over‐reliance on federal block grants and "one‐off" funding initiatives has left the addiction treatment system under‐resourced to respond to an addiction crisis that stands to be at least as deadly as COVID‐19 during the span of the Biden administration, a trio of prominent researchers argue in a newly released policy paper. The authors suggest that the new administration and Congress should prioritize efforts to build on what they consider the most impactful developments in improving access and quality in addiction treatment, such as Medicaid expansion and parity mandates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two recent research papers highlight ongoing deficiencies in the provision of addiction and mental health treatment services to veterans, though the report focusing on depression treatment for patients with substance use disorders (SUDs) suggests that shortcomings in treatment for co‐occurring disorders affect all populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adoption of a unified public health framework for the treatment of opioid use disorders (OUDs) would encourage more continuity of care and use of evidence‐based medication treatments to combat the crisis, suggest researchers with Columbia University and the New York State Psychiatric Institute. Moreover, they state in a newly published paper, the "Cascade of Care" framework they seek to advance could be used to improve accreditation standards they believe do not sufficiently address providers that do not use methadone, buprenorphine or injectable naltrexone in their treatment of opioid addiction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the traditional six-month rule of demonstrated abstinence from alcohol use before liver transplant eligibility. Topics covered include the reference given to a paper which deals with inadequate referral to transplant for end-stage liver disease patients with an alcohol use history and the story related by surgeon Richard B. Freeman which sought to determine which patients with kidney disease should receive dialysis.

The article discusses a white paper issued by Beacon Health Options "Confronting the Crisis of Opioid Addication" calling for a focus on outpatient medication-assisted treatment by primary care. Topics discussed include its focus on the need to treat opioid addiction as chronic condition, its criticism of providers of detox who did not participate in the continuum of care needed for chronic conditions and its support for 10 levels of care of the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM).