More than a decade has passed since the ASAM Patient Placement Criteria were revised, and the time has come for an update. Over the last year, the text has been revised and updated by an interdisciplinary group of stakeholders, including providers of different levels of care, public/private stakeholders, payers and managed care stakeholders, and with the guidance and input of professional organizations like NASADAD, NAATP, and NAADAC. Now the Coalition for National Clinical Criteria and ASAM are seeking input from a broader group of individuals and organizations and asking for volunteers to help improve and update the ASAM Criteria.
“We want feedback on the direction we are going with the current revisions, and want input and feedback based on the various experiences and settings of the field reviewers,” says David Mee-Lee, MD, Editor of the ASAM Criteria. “This is not a total rewrite of all of the specific admission criteria rules unless, of course, there are obvious mistakes and errors that need be corrected. It’s about improvements to help people better use the criteria.”
The field review will be completed this summer and the Coalition is seeking comments on:
- Actual criteria changes for mistakes or updated science
- Changes in terminology to be contemporary and strength-based, recovery-oriented e.g., “Opioid Maintenance Therapy, OMT could become Opioid Treatment Services, OTS; “dual diagnosis” becomes “co-occurring disorders”; “inappropriate use of substances” becomes “high risk use of substances”
- Diagnostic Admission Criteria changes to fit with DSM-5
- Additional text to improve application to Special Populations - Older Adults; Safety Sensitive Occupations; Parents with Children; Criminal Justice
- Text to assist in dealing with managed care
- The shift away from “placement” criteria to treatment criteria
If you would like to be a Field Reviewer or know others who should be, please e-mail your name, title, mailing and e-mail address to: Brendan McEntee
Publications Coordinator, ASAM, at bmcentee@asam.org and David Mee-Lee, MD, ASAM Criteria Editor, at davidmeelee@gmail.com.
The submission deadline is July 1.