Investments in the addiction specialist physician workforce are long overdue. While Addiction Psychiatry is a subspecialty that has been available as a career choice for board certified psychiatrists since 1994, Addiction Medicine was first recognized as an American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) subspecialty in 2016, and it is racing to catch up with other medical specialties and subspecialties in terms of teaching and training opportunities.
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Today ASAM praised the House Appropriations Committee for including an increase in funding for two critical addiction treatment workforce programs in its FY 2021 Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), Education, and Related Agencies appropriations bill.
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ASAM, along with 59 other organizations, sent a letter to congressional leadership urging them to support legislation that would provide a gradual increase in Medicare support for physician residency training through graduate medical education.
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GOOD NEWS! The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has posted information about The Addiction Medicine Fellowship (AMF) Program which will expand the number of fellows at accredited AMF and Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship (APF) programs trained as addiction medicine specialists who work in underserved, community-based settings that integrate primary care with mental health disorder and substance use disorder (SUD) prevention and treatment services. Read more.
S. 348, the Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act of 2019, would increase the number of residency positions eligible for graduate medical education payments under Medicare for qualifying hospitals, with an aggregate increase of 3,000 positions per fiscal year for five years. Of these positions, at least 1,500 per fiscal year must be for residents in a shortage specialty residency program (i.e., a program in a specialty in which baseline physician requirements projections exceed the projected supply of total active physicians, as identified by the Health Resources and Services Administration in a specified report).
H.R. 3414, the Opioid Workforce Act of 2019, would create 1,000 additional residency positions over five years to hospitals with addiction medicine, addiction psychiatry, or pain management programs.
Bill Summary
The SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act was signed into law on October 24, 2018. The bill contains many provisions designed to bolster the addiction treatment workforce. You can read a section by section summary here.
- Encourages increased training on addiction & pain in medical school/residency programs by authorizing $4M in grants for each of FY 2019-2023 to support curriculum development
- New DATA 2000 waiver pathway for recent medical school graduates who have successfully completed curriculum covering DATA 2000 waiver training elements
- Loan repayment program for SUD treatment providers practicing in high-need areas (up to $250,000); authorizes $25M for each of FY 2019-2023
- Physicians board-certified in addiction medicine or addiction psychiatry or qualifying practitioners practicing in a qualified practice setting can immediately treat up to 100 patients with buprenorphine (in lieu of 30)
- Permanent buprenorphine prescribing authority for NPs and PAs
- Added qualifying clinical nurse specialists, certified registered nurse anesthetists, and certified nurse midwifes to list of practitioners eligible to prescribe buprenorphine until October 1, 2023
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