ASAM submitted a written statement for the record to the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, Subcommittee on Health Care, which held a roundtable discussion on April 9th, Closing Gaps in the Care Continuum: Opportunities to Improve Substance Use Disorder Care in the Federal Health Programs and discussed barriers to methadone treatment for opioid use disorder. In response to the topics raised during the roundtable and questions asked by members of the Committee, ASAM outlined three priority strategies to address the unprecedented crisis of substance use, addiction, and associated death, listed below.

1. Strengthening the Addiction Specialist Physician Workforce;
2. Establishing Universal Access to Addiction Medications as Standard of Care; and
3. Ensuring Appropriate Coverage Of, and Reimbursement For, Effective Addiction Care.

Read the statement here.