Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly
Volume 24 Number 2
January 9, 2012
Pages 4-5
More reflections from readers: Hopes and fears for 2012
We asked field leaders to send
in their reflections on last year and
their hopes and fears for this year.
We printed some in last week’s issue
and will print the balance in next
week’s issue.
“I’m grateful for a season of reflection
and anticipation. Services for
prevention, treatment, and recovery
are essential to individuals, families,
and our communities. Health care
and parity legislation has opened
doors to opportunities offering hope
for improved services and cost-based
reimbursements, including appropriate
salaries for our well-educated and
skilled workforce. Change also brings
fears associated with transition and
implementation. Much more advocacy
is needed as states begin to develop
their plans. We must be vigilant
to ensure that the goals of the original
legislation don’t disappear in a
flurry of regulations based on shortsighted
budgets instead of overall
savings to healthcare and the wellness
of our citizens.”
— Becky Vaughn, CEO, State Associations
of Addiction Services
“I remain thankful that drug policy
continues to remain a non-partisan
issue. Despite the divisions we
have seen in Congress over the past
year, Democrats and Republicans
continue to work together on substance
abuse issues that are important.
My hope is that in 2012 we’ll
continue to make progress in addressing
the nation’s prescription
drug epidemic in such a bipartisan
way. I also predict that the recovery
community will become stronger
than ever, helping to lift the stigma
of addiction and encourage more
Americans to get the help they need
to free themselves from the misery
of addiction.”
— Rafael Lemaitre, spokesman,
Office of National Drug Control Policy
(ONDCP)
“Right now many substance use
disorder (SUD) treatment providers
are not participating in health information
exchanges (HIEs) due to
their fears about the privacy and security
of their clinical data as it relates
to 42 CFR part 2. I would consider
it a huge achievement if by the
middle of 2012 we have a SUD treatment
provider electronically connected
to an HIE, with a functioning
electronic consent management system
that is deemed 42 CFR Part 2
compliant by SAMSHA so that other
providers and other HIEs feel comfortable
using that approach.”
— Kevin Scalia, executive vice
president, Netsmart
“With the enormous economic
and political challenges facing the
nation, our field successfully maintained
its core funding for fiscal year
2012. This was accomplished by all
of us working together to ensure
that the substance abuse prevention
and treatment programs in SAMHSA
were preserved. CADCA also worked
to ensure that the Drug- Free Communities
program was funded at the
highest possible level. Going forward,
our entire field needs to be
more data- and outcome-driven and
strongly advocate for the entire continuum
of care -- from prevention
through recovery support.”
— Sue Thau, Community Anti-
Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA)
“2012 will be the year of decision.
From the Supreme Court to the
local treatment facilities and communities,
decisions will be made.
States, local government and managed
care will play the directional
roles. Resources, workforce development
and community values will
dictate within hard realities and limits.
Providers will need to affiliate for
efficiency and choose to be part of
the growing generalist opportunity
or remain in specialty care —both
will survive. More people will be
served, but demand will still exceed
capacity and public health models
will grow. Progress will be determined
by improved access. But will
we measure improved wellness and
recovery? That would be evolution.”
— Michael Flaherty, Ph.D.,
Founder, Institute for Research, Education
and Training in Addictions
(IRETA)
“As CEO of the country’s largest
substance abuse treatment provider,
I’ve been most excited that my objective
to help people is coming
true. We treat 30,000 every day and
the overwhelming majority live better
as a result. At the same time, I’ve
been saddened to see firsthand that
the “treatment gap” is very real – as
SAMHSA reports, over 23 million
people need but do not receive alcohol
or drug treatment. Neither we
at CRC nor the entire field combined
is more than the tip of the iceberg in
reaching people who need professional
help. We will keep innovating
(as an example, we are aggressively
incorporating Vivitrol as a monthly
treatment option for opiate addiction)
to draw more people to our
programs. But clearly denial, access,
and stigma all must be addressed to
reach the millions of individuals and
families in need.”
— Andy Eckert, CEO, CRC Health
Group
“It seems to me that the message
attacks on the field are getting
worse from all sides — by the
NIMBY advocates, the legalizers,
and the media emphasizing a few
selected bad outcomes instead of
the overwhelming successes. We
have to counter the NIMBYs with
the fact that drug treatment reduces
crime locally and regionally. We
need to defuse the legalizers (and
their state referenda) by emphasizing
the chaos and increased drug
usage that would occur. We still
have enormous work to do to remove
biases against methadone and
other medical approaches proven to
work, and have to get the word out
that these reduce addiction and restore
productivity. And when media
headlines a bad outcome-case, we
all need to write and speak out
about the overwhelming number of
lives that treatment saves in a difficult
population.”
— Robert Weiner, former spokesman,
White House ONDCP and U.S.
House Narcotics Committee; president,
Robert Weiner Associates Public
Affairs