National Advocacy
2025 Advocacy Impact Report
Resilient advocacy to advance addiction recovery
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ASAM continues to fight for policies that support you – the addiction medicine clinician – as you treat addiction and save lives.
The 2025 Advocacy Impact Report provides a snapshot of ASAM’s advocacy efforts to strengthen America’s addiction treatment infrastructure and expand patient access to evidence-based care.
2025 Advocacy Highlights
Successfully advocated for the passage of The SUPPORT For Patients and Communities Reauthorization Act, which contained several important provisions to strengthen addiction treatment, including:
- Reauthorization of the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Recovery Loan Repayment Program (STAR-LRP)
- Reauthorization of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) Comprehensive Opioid Recovery Centers grant program
- Expansion of SAMHSA’s Minority Fellowship Program to include physicians who specialize in addiction medicine
Secured permanent telemedicine flexibilities for buprenorphine treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD)
Fought to mitigate the harms of H.R. 1 on Medicaid expansion patients living with substance use disorder
- ASAM advocated to ensure that individuals with SUD are exempt from onerous work reporting requirements and that SUD services are exempt from new cost-sharing mandates for Medicaid expansion beneficiaries.
- In 2026, ASAM is committed to advocating for appropriate implementation of these SUD exemptions to mitigate harms to the Medicaid expansion population.
Advocacy by the Numbers
- 149 ASAM member meetings with Congressional offices
- Nearly 100 addiction medicine experts advocated on Capitol Hill
- 19 coalition letters sent to Congressional and regulatory leaders that called for policy reforms to improve and strengthen addiction care
- 6 new Policy Rounds, ASAM's educational briefs on timely issues in addiction policy
- 3 new policy statements on key addiction policy topics:
- 6 state bills promoting addiction prevention and treatment efforts signed into law with the support of ASAM State Chapters