ASAM Responds to HHS Request for Comment on the Chronic Disease of Addiction

On July 3, the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) submitted a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in response to its request for information (RFI) on the chronic disease of addiction. The RFI solicited stakeholder input on research and policy strategies in order to strengthen addiction prevention, treatment, and recovery in America.

ASAM strongly recommends that the federal government continue to categorize addiction as a chronic, treatable medical condition, and stresses federal programs align with evidence-based prevention, risk reduction, treatment engagement and retention, recovery support, and continuous quality improvement practices.

Some specific recommendations include preserving evidence-based overdose and infection-prevention services as engagement points for treatment and recovery, permitting reimbursement and reporting for outreach, re-engagement, and care-continuity work, and expanding care through telehealth and team-based models.

ASAM’s letter including its full list of recommendations is available here.