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Experts hope for continued expansion of coverage for substance-abuse treatment and broader acceptance of addiction as a brain disease requiring medical care.
The harrowing brutality of the opioid crisis is old news to addiction professionals.
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Clay Ciha
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“We could have told you that opioids were at epidemic levels years ago,” says Clay Ciha, CEO of AMITA Health Behavioral Medicine, which includes Alexian Brothers Behavioral Health Hospital in Hoffman Estates, IL.
What’s somewhat novel is that the brain disease of addiction has become a top priority for many people outside the medical field.
Just last week, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, MD, issued his office’s first report about alcohol, drugs, and health. Now treatment advocates are watchfully waiting to see whether the incoming Trump administration takes actions that make the problem better or worse.
For an insider’s perspective on these developments, Ciha and his colleague, Gregory Teas, MD, chief medical officer of the behavioral medicine service line at AMITA Health, agreed to answer a few questions. The following transcript has been lightly edited.
HealthLeaders Media: How might Trump’s election affect addiction treatment policies nationally, and AMITA in particular?
Ciha: I can’t speak to that directly, but I do think Congress, the legislative branch is making some great strides in understanding the importance of addressing both behavioral health and substance use disorders, so I would hope that wouldn’t backslide in any way.
I think there’s some really good bipartisan support for almost all of these bills. I don’t know that the role of the president is going to affect the cooperation that currently exists in Congress.
Teas: I agree. We’ve seen important legislative acts in the last five years to increase parity in coverage between general medical conditions and both mental illness and addictions that have allowed access for many more people to treatment, and I think that would be a hard policy to reverse, and hopefully is going to continue to expand coverage for those who are willing to seek treatment.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]