People taking buprenorphine to overcome opioid use disorder (OUD) aren’t using the medication-assisted treatment (MAT) drug for long enough, according to a new study published Wednesday in the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment. Buprenorphine has been successfully used to treat OUD for nearly 20 years. The drug has been shown to lead to sustained recovery […]
Category: Regulation
The ability to get paid for virtual services has been a game changer for behavioral health providers amid the pandemic. It’s allowed them to continue providing services and remain afloat financially over the past year and a half — and many stakeholders believe telebehavioral health has the power to improve patient access and providers’ bottom […]
Expanding the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) program has been a top priority of behavioral health stakeholders for years. Proponents often make their case with data that suggests the model saves money and improves outcomes in the long run. However, a new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) puts forth another claim: […]
Months after nixing a last-minute waiver issued by the outgoing Trump Administration to relax rules around treating opioid use disorder (OUD), the Biden Administration has announced new medication-assisted treatment (MAT) flexibilities of its own. The guidelines, which were issued Tuesday by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), automatically allow various clinicians to administer […]
The American Psychological Association (APA) is calling on Congress to enforce and improve the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA), arguing that the legislation’s long-time shortcomings have become even more clear amid the pandemic. MHPAEA has been the law of the land since 2008. It mandates that employers offer mental health coverage that’s […]
A Hartford, Connecticut-based behavioral health care practice and its owners have agreed to a civil settlement with federal and state governments to settle allegations they improperly billed Medicaid. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Tuesday that Maurice Stuckey and Joyce Anderson, as well as their company Today’s Youth LLC, will pay $273,000 to resolve […]
More than 55% of adults with mental health issues went untreated in 2020, largely due to the supply-demand mismatch that exists in behavioral health. Integrating behavioral health care into medical settings presents an opportunity to change that — and benefit behavioral health providers — but not without policy changes. The problem is most primary care […]
When President Joe Biden was elected, behavioral health stakeholders were hopeful he would tackle some of the industry’s most pressing issues, chiefly among them being parity. Even though the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA) requires insurers to make behavioral health coverage no more restrictive than medical coverage, payers frequently come […]
The Biden Administration has released its first-year drug policy priorities. The agenda, released Thursday, includes seven main areas on which the administration says it will focus during its first year in office. Those priorities include increasing access to evidence-based SUD treatment, particularly for buprenorphine medication-assisted treatment (MAT); better enforcing behavioral health parity; improving racial equity; […]
A bipartisan group of U.S. senators has introduced legislation to increase the amount of federal funding aimed at combating the nation’s opioid epidemic, which has worsened since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. On top of that, the new bill aims to make some COVID-19-era telehealth flexibilities permanent, among other changes. The legislation — the […]
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