On July 6, ASAM sent a letter to the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) responding to a request for input on its 2022 National Drug Control Strategy. ASAM’s comments include recommendations that would strengthen the addiction medicine workforce, standardize the delivery of individualized addiction care, ensure equitable access and coverage for comprehensive, high-quality addiction care, and reduce barriers to accessing evidence-based addiction treatment.

Specifically, ASAM’s letter urged ONDCP to advance initiatives in alignment with a plethora of legislation under consideration by Congress. These efforts include legislation to improve access to addiction treatment for individuals who are incarcerated, increase access to care through Medicaid, empower clinicians to treat addiction through telehealth, and improve parity compliance among various insurers. 

ASAM also encouraged ONDCP to implement other initiatives to combat the country’s addiction crisis. These initiatives include encouraging state Medicaid programs to adopt two new sets of bundled G codes, approval of a prescription to over the counter (OTC) switch for at least one naloxone product, and regulatory changes that would allow Medicaid reimbursement for the room and board portion of SUD residential levels of care that meet certain standards, among many other efforts. 

Read the letter here.