American Society of Addiction Medicine

“The isolation caused by the pandemic has worsened substance use disorder and it has worsened mental health,” said Dr. Garbely, Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President of Medical Strategy, Education and Research at Caron Treatment Centers. “This week will help put substance use disorder and the awareness of addiction treatment back in the forefront where it needs to be."

Health care professionals should have the same mentality – especially during a global pandemic, according to Penelope P. Ziegler, MD, DFASAM, chair of ASAM’s Physicians Health Special Interest Group. “Take care of yourself so you can breathe and then you can offer assistance to someone else,” said Dr. Ziegler, also Medical Director Emerita of Florida Professionals Resource Network.

On September 10th, the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) submitted a comment letter to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) outlining suggested improvements to the proposed Physician Payment Schedule for calendar year (CY) 2022.

On September 10th, the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM), along with dozens of partner organizations, sent a letter to Chair Patty Murray of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) urging for the inclusion of enhanced mental health and substance use disorder (SUD) parity enforcement within the Senate’s version of the budget reconciliation proposal.

On September 9th, the Michigan Society of Addiction Medicine (MISAM) submitted a comment letter to the Michigan Bureau of Professional Licensing in support of proposed changes to the pharmacy controlled substances rules of the Drug Treatment Prescriber Program. These revisions would eliminate burdensome requirements on the licensing of controlled substances and bring the state rules into closer alignment with federal standards.