Plus: A look at the Stop the Stigma podcast, and webinars for treatment professionals
By Darya Daneshmand
New & Next: Industry
“Speaking the Same Language” Addresses the Addiction Care Infrastructure
Unveiled on Nov. 10, a powerful resource produced by Manatt Health Strategies in collaboration with the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) and Well Being Trust aims to increase consistency in the provision of patient-centered addiction care and coverage, by promoting and educating the public and providers about the ASAM Criteria, a widely used set of guidelines for addiction treatment across a continuum of care. The framework, titled “Speaking the Same Language: A Toolkit for Strengthening Patient-Centered Addiction Care in the United States,” outlines vehicles for the implementation of objectives, including:
- Expanding provider use of criteria
- Leveraging criteria with payers and providers for ensuring affordable access to care
- Ensuring accountability for payer use of criteria
- Supporting understanding of criteria among patients and providers of care and coverage
“Building a solid addiction treatment infrastructure includes creating integrated systems that help clinicians determine the appropriate level of care for their patients and facilitate that placement; expedite third-party authorization of payment for those appropriate levels of care; and educate patients about why the level of care is recommended for them,” says ASAM president-elect Brian Hurley, MD, MBA, DFASAM.
New & Next: Media
Stop the Stigma Podcast
The Stop the Stigma podcast, hosted by Toni and Christopher Cornell, released “Stop the Stigma Episode 2: Director Jim Carroll” on Nov. 10. The podcast debuted last month. Carroll speaks to the organization Stop the Stigma’s approach to addressing and eliminating stigma in spaces such as healthcare, criminal justice and business, in addition to ongoing efforts to support individuals and families amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The first podcast featured Nora Volkow, MD, world-renowned scientist and director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). You can listen to that episode here.
New & Next: Webinars
Certified Addiction Registered Nurse (CARN) Exam Review
A free exam review course sponsored by the Boston Medical Center Grayken Center for Addiction offers support for registered nurses (RNs) and nurse practitioners (NPs) working in the field of addiction care in preparation for the CARN and CARN-AP exam. The virtual Zoom training will be split between two sessions, held on Nov. 15 from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. EST. Register here.
Substance Use and Psychosis
NAADAC, the National Association for Addiction Professionals, will administer the webinar “Substance Use & Psychosis: Interventions for Intertwined Issues” on Nov. 17 from 3:00 to 4:30 p.m. EST. The event will cover positive and negative symptoms of psychosis, the interactions between psychosis and substance use, and how to integrate at least two interventions to address co-occurring substance use psychosis. Registration is free.
Photo: Freddie Marriage
