There has long been a gap in Medicare coverage for residential care for substance use disorders.
Historically, Medicare has only covered hospital or outpatient programs for SUD care. However, a new piece of legislation dubbed the Residential Recovery for Seniors Act is looking to change that practice.
The act would allow seniors with Medicare coverage to access non-hospital-based residential SUD care. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) introduced the new legislation in the Senate, and House Representative Lauren Underwood (D-IL-14) introduced it to the House.
“Despite being at higher risk for developing substance use disorders, older adults suffering from addiction are often overlooked and do not have access to the full spectrum of recovery care,” Casey said in a statement. “The Residential Recovery for Seniors Act will provide seniors in need of help with another option for substance use treatment. Substance use disorder is a crisis in every age group and in every community across our nation, and we must respond by giving Americans who are suffering a wide range of options to begin the road to recovery.”
There were 7.1 million older adults who had an SUD in the last year, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) national survey on drug use and health among older adults. Additionally, 9.5 million older adults used an illicit drug in the past year, and 10 million engaged in binge drinking in the past year.
Industry insiders have been calling for more SUD treatment opportunities for seniors for years.
“Historically, it is the case that all of the estimates of SUD prevalence were massively underreported within the Medicare population,” Cooper Zelnick, chief revenue officer of Groups Recover Together, recently said at Behavioral Health Business’ Autism & Addiction Treatment Forum. “It’s been especially with an OUD. It sort of masquerades as chronic pain, long-term opioid pain medication. And as the government has rightfully cracked down on physicians and prescriptions, a lot of that is shifting over.”
