ASAM issued a letter of support for H.R. 4097, the Medicare Beneficiary Opioid Addiction Treatment Act, sponsored by Rep. Richard Neal. This legislation would modify the Medicare Part B program to permit Medicare coverage of methadone as an outpatient treatment for addiction. Currently, Medicare only covers methadone for inpatient use when used for addiction and is contrary to ASAM’s policy recommending that all public and private payers provide insurance coverage for the treatment of opioid addiction.

Yesterday, President Donald J. Trump directed the declaration of a Nationwide Public Health Emergency to address the country’s opioid crisis. The American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) applauds President Trump for taking this historic step.

ASAM submitted comments to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce offering recommendations to build on the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) and 21st Century CURES Act. The recommendations included growing the treatment workforce, increasing education for opioid prescribers, and improving access to overdose treatment and treatment for pregnant and postpartum women.

ASAM signed onto a letter led by the Ohio Society of Addiction Medicine (OHSAM), along with several other Ohio health care groups. The letter urged the Ohio Department of Medicaid (ODM) to require Medicaid managed care plans to use nationally recognized clinical standards, such as ASAM’s, when determining coverage standards for substance use disorder services.

ASAM submitted two comment letters to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding new subcutaneous injectable buprenorphine formulations. In the letters, ASAM reiterated support for new pharmacotherapies for addiction and that patients should have a robust and varied array of treatment options. The letters also highlighted that these new formulations of would be injected one or twice monthly and have the potential to decrease diversion.

The American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM), the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP), and the American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA) sent a letter to licensure boards in support of the provision of CARA that extends buprenorphine prescribing authority to NPs and PAs and asks for this information to be clearly communicated to licensed clinicians in the state.

ASAM submitted a letter to the Senate Health, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee asking that benefit protections for mental health and substance use disorder treatment and recovery support services through the exchanges and individual/small group markets be maintained and that those benefits be offered consistent with the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA as the committee works to develop a market stabilization framework.

ASAM led a coalition letter signed by 468 other organizing expressing serious concerns with several of the health system reform included in the Graham-Cassidy-Heller-Johnson (GCHJ) proposal. The letter highlights how GCHJ’s proposed changes to our health care system would result in reductions in health care coverage, particularly for individuals with substance use disorders and mental illness, and we cannot support the bill.