ASAM Urges HHS to Decrease Barriers to Contingency Management for the Treatment of Addiction

On July 6, ASAM sent a letter to the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Alex Azar, requesting his support for a waiver of at least two years of the Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) interpretation of the Anti-Kickback Statute and Civil Monetary Penalties as applied to the implementation of contingency management for the treatment of addiction. As applied, the current interpretation severely restricts the ability of clinicians to use contingency management to treat addiction. 

The letter emphasizes that contingency management is an evidence-based treatment for addiction. Furthermore, it is the only evidence-based treatment for stimulant use disorders, which are on the rise in the United States. Therefore, it is critical that HHS empower behavioral health providers by supporting the request for a two-year waiver of the OIG interpretation of the Anti-Kickback Statute and Civil Monetary Penalties as it applies to the implementation of contingency management for the treatment of addiction. Without this waiver, behavioral health providers face a growing crisis of stimulant use disorders without the only tool proven to treat them.

Read the letter here.